Louisiana engineer’s invention containing controversial Gulf oil spill
Over the nearly 15 years since Hurricane Ivan knocked down a production platform operated by Taylor Energy Co., the company has claimed that less than three gallons a day were seeping out. In reality, a large volume of oil was escaping from the site into the Gulf of Mexico, pouring out of an erosion pit where the tower was destroyed.
The government is relying on Louisiana-native Timmy Couvillion, a former fishing boat captain turned engineer, details The Washinton Post, to contain the spill and recover some of the oil. And the amount he has captured so far is proving Taylor Energy wrong.
His business, the Couvillion Group, conceived and designed a containment system weighing more than 200 tons, built it in shops all over southern Louisiana and pieced it together deep underwater. The system has recovered about 63,000 gallons since March, according to Couvillion—virtually eliminating a rainbow-colored slick that has stretched as far as 21 miles.
Even Taylor Energy has acknowledged the Couvillion Group’s success, but the company has sued the U.S. Coast Guard for ordering the cleanup as part of an on-going and long-running dispute over the severity of the spill and who has legal control for its cleanup.
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