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SideburnSundays t1_iswwqrx wrote

Whenever I read news like this I imagine 15 million, 55-gallon literal barrels of thick black fluid just chilling out somewhere for decades.

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CrappyMSPaintPics t1_isx15l2 wrote

It's actually stored underground inside salt caverns previously created by solution mining.

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Chippopotanuse t1_isx56s6 wrote

So, it’s just been chilling out for decades?

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WSL_subreddit_mod t1_isx81kb wrote

I mean, before we put it in a barrel it was sitting around under ground for a lot longer than that...

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birdpix t1_isxc5ba wrote

In the 80s, they built pipelines to transport oil to/from the underground reserves right across some of the most wild and pristine parts of coastal Texas and Louisiana. The oil is pumped into old salt mines.

My experience was a shocking before and after, when as a youngster, relatives in SW LA took me out to the swamp (National Wildlife Refuge) before and after the pipeline was built. My 2nd visit was within a year of it being built and it was heartbreaking to see the damage putting it in did, and how almost every support section had a chemically caused circle of death (agent orangish) 10-20 feet in diameter and some icky stains under pipeline. In the midst of the absolute wilds, seeing nothing growing was sad. That and seeing fresh oil spill in Mobile Bay colored my view of the oil industry for the last 40 years.

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Deluxe78 t1_it796wn wrote

I checked it said best used before midterms, it’s still good

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Al_Bundy_14 t1_isx6klu wrote

That’s a drum. Oil comes in 42 gallon barrels.

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