Coalition to help ensure Texas prepared to respond to a large-scale oil spill
Texas Insider Report: HOUSTON Texas To ensure Texas never endures the environmental & economic disaster occurring in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion Gov. Rick Perry today announced the formation of the Gulf Project a coalition of energy & environmental scientists policy experts academic researchers private sector research scientists & state officials.
To keep our status as the energy capital of the nation and preserve our environment jobs and economy Texas must become the world leader in developing the next generation in offshore oil exploration safety and response" Perry said.
The Gulf Project is an unprecedented collaboration of the states top scientists engineers and researchers focused on protecting our residents environment and economy and solving the unique challenges presented by the next generation of domestic energy exploration and production" said the Governor.
Participating in the effort amongst other experts and institutions of higher education that may join later are the:
University of Texas- Texas A&M University
- University of Houston
- Rice University
- Texas Tech University
- Southern Methodist University
- Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA)
- Texas General Land Office and
- Texas Railroad Commission
A key challenge for the industry is the current inability to test full drilling systems to determine their safety and to develop proven methods of responding to large-scale oil spills such as the Deepwater Horizon incident.
Other nations including the United Kingdom Norway and Brazil are competing to develop a seafloor testing facility.
Each participating institution is already involved in significant oil and gas drilling research and already have the facilities such as Texas A&Ms Offshore Research Technology Center and Rices National Corrosion Center
but none is able to test a full drilling system to ensure it can safely operate under all deep sea conditions.
Additionally the Johnson Space Center is home to facilities that can test the safety and reliability of current and next generation equipment which could be used as research proceeds.
Perry said he believes domestic oil and gas exploration remains critical to meeting the nations energy needs noting that Texas energy industry continues to:
- Fuel the nation
- Supplying 20 of the nations oil production
- One-fourth of the nations natural gas production
- 25 of the nations refining capacity and
- Nearly 60 of the nations chemical manufacturing
Additionally Texas energy industry employs 200000 to 300000 Texans with $35 billion in total wages.
