[Letter to the Editor] Cedar Point Dumping, Revisited

I took offense to a statement in your Most Intriguing Jacksonians 2009 article from your Dec. 31, 2009, issue. You stated that John McGowan relished taking on "environmentalists in lawsuits over his company's dumping chemicals into the Galveston Bay." That statement is actually a misstatement. (I'll refrain from branding you all as liars.) The facts are this: when Cedar Point Oil Company Inc., (Cedar Point) purchased a lease in the Cedar Point Oil Field around 1990, it inherited a valid Texas State-granted permit to dispose of saltwater into Galveston Bay. Galveston Bay was dominated by major oil companies and large independents which all had the same state-approved permits to dispose of saltwater, a natural by-product of oil and gas production, into the bay which, incidentally, already contained a volume of saltwater many orders of magnitude greater than what was being disposed.

When the Clean Water Act was passed, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took over the provenance for issue of disposal permits. New EPA permits would be required to dispose into the bay. The problem is, the EPA never issued any permits. Therefore, all producers in not just Galveston Bay, but in all bays and estuaries, were in violation. Upon seeing this obvious set-up for litigation, the Sierra Club filed suit on EVERY oil producer in Galveston Bay. There [sic] stated intent was to shut down all disposal of saltwater into the bay, thereby shutting down a large portion of the oil and gas production in the bay as a result. However, in their infinite mercy, the Sierra Club devised a solution. If those "polluters" would just make a "donation" to the Sierra Club affiliated Galveston Bay Foundation, then the Sierra Club would drop litigation against those entities. All of the big companies (Exxon, Chevron, Texaco, etc., etc.) jumped at the deal.

John McGowan's Cedar Point Oil Company Inc. decided to fight the suit. An enormous amount of science was brought to bear. Proof was gathered that showed disposal of oilfield brine into existing saltwater systems produced no harm. The waters that were being released into the bay were pristine but for salt content. No traces of hydrocarbons were present in these waters, much less any "chemicals" as you state in your article. When the suit finally made it to trial, the wrangling from attorneys for the Sierra Club prevented any of the scientific data from being presented to the court. The basic premise of the court was that Cedar Point was indeed disposing oilfield saltwater into Galveston Bay without a valid EPA permit. Summary judgement was passed from the bench. Case closed. Cedar Point Oil Company Inc. was fined and charged a large sum for the Sierra Club's legal fees. The lease was later sold, Cedar Point was dissolved, and now McGowan will not go near to operations in the bay systems.

End result: Major companies get to continue dumping saltwater into the bays because they paid bribes, the Sierra Club and its cronies get richer, and true innovators like McGowan get shut out because they stand on a point of honor while we continue to buy increasing amounts of crude oil from terrorist-sponsoring nations. Now that's what I call justice.

Charles G. Johnson, Geologist
McGowan Working Partners, Inc.

Editor's note: The JFP previously made a correction in print and online about using "the word chemicals" instead of "wastewater" (or "petroleum brine"). Whave contacted the Sierra Club for a response to the accusations contained in the letter. To read more response to this letter, which Charles Johnson also sent to the Northside Sun, read this blog post by Donna Ladd. The court cases and details about the violation are linked in that blog post. Read Adam Lynch's original story about the Galveston Bay dumping violation here. Read a full archive here of JFP Pearl River coverage.

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