ST. MARY PARISH — We did some digging and found several accidents that happened on Texas Petroleum Investment Company worksites, and that the company has been fined several times for environmental issues.
Here's what we found.
In May 2015, a fire at a platform near Breton Island in Plaquemines Parish caused 28 to evacuate and resulted in an oil spill. That fire was caused by a rented compressor.
Federal and state agencies had to burn an area of the Delta National Wildlife Refuge in June 2014 after it was contaminated by a 2,100 gallon crude oil leak from Texas Petroleum.
In October 2015, two men died in a boat explosion in White Lake, while working on a nearby oilfield production platform owned by Texas Petroleum Investment Company.
The company has been cited several times by the Environmental Protection Agency and fined more than $300,000.
In August 2011, EPA the company was fined $163,487 for Clean Water Act violations at its oil production facilities in Terrebonne, Plaquemines, Lafourche, St. Charles and Iberia parishes and for of oil spills into wetland areas and canals in Terrebonne, Plaquemines and Iberia parishes, according to the EPA.
It was fined $134,895 in 2011 for failing to implement a plan to prevent future spills, and fined again for the same thing in 2012 for $5,300.
Closest to home, the company was fined $20,222 for a February 2010 for an oil spill near Avery Island that caused a sheen on the water and shoreline.
They've also been fined more than $7,000 by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Qualify for violating environmental air regulations for issues with operations in 2010 in Lafourche, 2013 in Jeanerette and 2014 in Plaquemines.
