Mother Earth Monday: Gulf Oil Spills Keep Gushing in Media

Huge gobs of British Petroleum and a giant spill you probably never even heard about continue to make headlines this week.  If you care about the ecology of the Gulf of Mexico be sure to read this article in Think Progress and this article from Common Dreams.

TP says: Five years ago, BP’s historic 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill resulted in more than 210 million barrels of oil ending up in the Gulf of Mexico. But while scientists continue to observe ongoing problems, a BP spokesman appeared on ABC’s This Week on Sunday suggesting the remaining oil no longer poses a risk to humans or the aquatic ecosystem.

CD says:  While Gulf Coast residents and environmental groups focus on the upcoming five-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, a damning Associated Press investigation has exposed the lingering impacts of a separate 2004 leak in the Gulf of Mexico—one that few people know about, and one that is far worse than the industry wants to admit.

Taylor Energy Company, which formerly operated the oil platform that collapsed during Hurricane Ivan, “has downplayed the leak’s extent and environmental impact, likening it to scores of minor spills and natural seeps the Gulf routinely absorbs,” according to AP journalists Michael Kunzelman and Jeff Donn.

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In this March 31, 2015 photo, the wake of a supply vessel heading towards a working platform crosses over an oil sheen drifting from the site of the former Taylor Energy oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. Down to just one full-time employee, Taylor Energy Company exists for only one reason: to fight a Gulf of Mexico oil leak that has gone largely unnoticed, despite creating miles-long slicks for more than a decade.

 

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