John K. Flores: Egret tells a story about environment, economy and life on the coast

When local nature photographer Frank Garacci took a picture of a great egret a couple days prior to New Year’s Eve, he immediately noticed something was wrong.

The normally pure white bird was brown from its breast down to its feet. When he checked the picture closely, he realized the bird was covered with oil.
Garacci looked around the area where he took the picture and discovered the source of the oil. It was from a leaking pipeline in a roadside marsh near Weeks Island along the route he normally takes to Cypremort Point.

Garacci, who retired from Palfinger Marine in New Iberia two years ago, says he notified and spoke with the Louisiana State Police Emergency Hazardous Material Unit, as well as the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Emergency Response Section.

According to Garacci, both agencies were concerned and assured him all would be cleaned up and inspected.

“When I saw the oil, I was upset, because it’s probably not the only bird or animals to be effected by that leak,” Garacci said. “There was a momma bear and two cubs I saw in that same area not more than 10 days ago. What was unusual was it looked like someone had tried to previously contain the oil with a boom, but oil was still leaking from a flowline that went back to a well head in the woods.”

Leaks like the one Garacci found last week all too often aren’t discovered right away. Some small flowlines in wooded and marshy areas are run on top of the ground and eventually covered by leaves and foliage, hiding them from the naked eye.

If these flowlines aren’t regularly inspected, it’s only a matter of time before something eventually happens, whether by accident or deterioration.

The thing about oil spills is the environmental damage they do is typically very bad optics. Like Garacci’s great egret. No matter how great of a safety record a company has, spills of any kind become a reflection on the oil and gas industry as a whole.

Literally tens of thousands of men and women make their living in the oil and gas industry along the Gulf Coast, including Garacci before he retired.
I would venture to say, “post BP Oil Spill,” none would deliberately ignore or violate regulations and protocols that govern the safe extraction and delivery of oil and gas.

Today where climate change and green energy are getting most of the positive headlines, rest assured fossil fuels aren’t going away anytime soon. In fact, possibly ever.

Besides fuel, as long as there are asphalt roads being paved, plastics being utilized, and things like lipstick, deodorant, lubricants and medical devices being built, oil will be extracted from the earth.

The important thing is to make sure oil and gas is removed and transported in the most environmentally safest way possible.

No matter the time of the year it is, there are always people like Garacci spending time in the outdoors enjoying nature. Hopefully, it’s an incentive for oil and gas companies to be vigilant when it comes to caring for the environment.

John Flores is the Morgan City Review’s outdoor writer. He can be contacted at gowiththe flow@cox.net.