Texas Automated Buoy System - sustainable ocean observations to help protect the environment

Abstract

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill off the coast of Louisiana in 2010 woke the country once again to the inherent risks involved in offshore drilling operations. The final overall cost of this spill will not only be measured in dollars, but also in the tragic loss of life, environmental damage to coastal wetlands and damage to the psyche of many of the local residents who once regarded the oil industry simply as a means to prosperity. Although the environment will likely eventually recover, the outrage, hardship and economic impact on local communities cannot be overlooked. Fortunately spills of this nature and magnitude are rare occurrences. Companies involved in the oil industry mitigate the chance for accidents by requiring proper personnel training, daily regular safety and toolbox meetings and regular equipment maintenance. There are standard operating procedures that must be followed for most operations on drilling platforms, tankers and fueling depots which are designed specifically to prevent the accidental discharge of oil. Still, regardless of the quality of training, equipment and procedures, some accidents will still occasionally occur. Some of these accidents will rarely, but inevitably, result in oil being discharged into the environment. Working at sea is a challenging and potentially dangerous occupation where the at sea environment can make even simple tasks difficult and hazardous. Being prepared to act on an oil spill is critical in being able to mitigate the potential impacts. Many of the people who were working on the Deepwater Horizon platform were not yet born in 1979 when the last big blowout occurred in Mexico's Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico. Some were too young to remember the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 and the enormity of the costs involved in cleaning it up. Events such as these led the United States government to pass the 1990 Federal Oil Pollution Act, which allowed the government and its agencies to take control of cleanup operations during an oil spill and recoup all expenses from the responsible party. This in turn led to the Texas government passing the Texas Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act in 1991. Because of the potentially large environmental and socioeconomic impact of any size spill that reaches the coast, there is a great need for timely knowledge and understanding about the environment in which the spill occurred. This is why in 1994, the Texas General Land Office (TGLO) contracted the Geochemical and Environmental Research Group (GERG) of Texas A&M University (TAMU) to develop the Texas Automated Buoy System (TABS). It is the only state funded ocean observation system in the country whose primary mandate is to provide oceanographic and meteorological data for the purpose of modeling oil spill trajectories. With nine permanent locations on the Texas shelf, the TABS system provides spill response managers in Texas with the real time data necessary to accurately predict the trajectory of an offshore oil spill so the environmental and economic impacts of the spill can be minimized. In sixteen years of operation, TABS has been used for decision making purposes in over forty events. The first few minutes after a spill has been detected are critical to determine how to treat the spill, how and where to intercept it and to determine what resources are required. The TABS system provides that vital information to allow response managers to act and mitigate the potential impact from an oil spill.