Texas General Land Office Forms Task Force on Oil Spill Prevention

The Texas General Land Office (TGLO) has formed an Oil Spill Prevention Task Force to look at ways to prevent spills and to examine penalty levels if spills do occur in Texas waters. The task force includes environmentalists, professional shrimpers, the towing industry, pipeline companies and refineries. The purpose of the task force is to: · Analyze spill data to determine spill trends; · Report on current best practices aimed at preventing spills; and, · Using spill and current practices information, recommend a fair penalty policy for the TGLO. The task force held its first meeting in Houston. Under Texas law, the state is require to charge at least $250 for every spill in state waters, regardless of the cause. The state has the power to assess penalties as high as $25,000 per spill. The vast majority of spills are small and do not require extensive clean-up efforts. State officials have also indicated that a large number of spills can be traced back to recreational boaters and shrimp trawlers. One concern of the task force was that penalties may have the unintended consequence of discouraging people from reporting spills, especially among recreational boaters and shrimpers. Task force members were also concerned that excessive fines might be unfairly levied on companies that were already working to prevent spills. The task force formed three subcommittees through which its work will be conducted. The process is expected to be completed by mid-April and the results will be reported to the TGLO.