Increasingly Fierce Storms Are Coming for the Upper Texas Coast. Is the Petrochemical Industry Ready?

PUBLIC HEALTH WATCH

Nearly two decades had passed since the storm. For many, the memory of what had happened on Goat Island had largely vanished into the Gulf of Mexico. 

Instead, what residents remembered that year were the piles of boats and cars washed up along the highway to Galveston and the twisted mounds of debris where homes once stood. It was late summer 2008, and Hurricane Ike had just struck, decimating parts of the upper Texas Gulf Coast.

But Goat Island — a spit of swampy land just east of Galveston — also flooded, and with it an oil and gas facility that sat on its uninhabited shores. When the hurricane struck, piping to the St. Mary Land and Exploration Company’s storage tanks snapped apart, releasing thousands of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf. By the time St. Mary workers arrived a day later, the tanks were empty. 

There were nearly 450 reported releases of oil, gasoline and other hazardous substances into the air and water during Ike, including the incident on Goat Island. None of these releases was catastrophic. But the area’s luck may not hold.

Today, Galveston County is home to 22 refineries and chemical plants. Another five petrochemical facilities are proposed or under construction, according to Oil & Gas Watch. Since Ike, meanwhile, the county’s population has grown by more than 80,000.