15 years after Deepwater Horizon oil spill, lawsuits stall and restoration is incomplete

By JACK BROOK Associated Press Statement for America NEW ORLEANS AP Fifteen years after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off the Gulf Coast killing and sending million gallons million liters of crude gushing into the ocean the effects of the nation s worst offshore oil spill are still being felt Oil company BP paid billions of dollars in damages propelling ambitious coastal restoration projects across five states Yet cleanup workers and local residents who suffered soundness impacts they attribute to the oil spill have struggled to have their cases heard in court and inadequate have received critical compensation Conservation groups say the spill catalyzed innovative restoration work across the Gulf Coast but are alarmed at the new halt of a flagship land-creation project in Louisiana As the Trump administration expands offshore oil and gas they are concerned the best opportunities for rebuilding the Gulf Coast are slipping away FILE Oil leaks in the Gulf of Mexico southeast of Venice on Louisiana s tip as the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns on April AP Photo Gerald Herbert File FILE In this April file photo provided by the U S Coast Guard fire boat response crews spray water on the burning BP Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig U S Coast Guard via AP File FILE- A worker picks up blobs of oil with absorbent snare on Queen Bess Island at the mouth of Barataria Bay near the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish La on June AP Photo Gerald Herbert File This photo provided by Tammy Gremillion shows Jennifer Lee Gremillion a Louisiana resident involved in the clean-up of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill with her daughter in Tammy Gremillion via AP FILE Shrimp boats are used to collect oil with booms in the waters of Chandeleur Sound La May AP Photo Eric Gay File FILE An oil-soaked bird struggles against the oil-slicked side of the HOS Iron Horse supply vessel at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana on May AP Photo Gerald Herbert File FILE A small dead fish floats on a pool of oil at Bay Long off the coast of Louisiana on June AP Photo Charlie Riedel File FILE A brown pelican covered in oil tries to raise its wings on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast on June AP Photo Charlie Riedel File FILE A bird is mired in oil on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast on June AP Photo Charlie Riedel File FILE Oil floats in the waters of Chandeleur Sound La on May two weeks after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico AP Photo Eric Gay File FILE Crude oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill floats on the water with clouds reflected in the sheen on Barataria Bay off the coast of Louisiana on June AP Photo Charlie Riedel File FILE A worker shovels oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill off Fourchon Beach in Port Fourchon La May AP Photo Patrick Semansky File FILE A worker uses a suction hose to remove oil washed ashore from the Deepwater Horizon spill in Belle Terre La June AP Photo Eric Gay File FILE The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns in the Gulf of Mexico on April following an explosion that killed workers and caused the worst offshore oil spill in the nation s history AP Photo Gerald Herbert File FILE Crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill washes ashore in Orange Beach Ala on June AP Photo Dave Martin File Show Caption of FILE Oil leaks in the Gulf of Mexico southeast of Venice on Louisiana s tip as the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns on April AP Photo Gerald Herbert File Expand Tying soundness problems to the spill remains hard to prove in court In the coastal population of Lafitte in southeast Louisiana Tammy Gremillion is celebrating Easter Sunday the anniversary of the April spill without her daughter She remembers warning Jennifer against joining a cleanup crew tasked with containing the spill for BP But I couldn t stop her they were offering these kids lots of money Gremillion declared They didn t know the dangers They didn t do what they should have to protect these young people Jennifer worked knee-deep in oil for months returning home reeking of fumes covered in black splotches and urgent out in rashes and suffering headaches She also was exposed to Corexit an EPA-approved chemical applied on and below the water to disperse oil which has been linked to strength problems In Jennifer died of leukemia a blood cancer that can be caused by exposure to oil Gremillion who broke down in tears as she recounted her daughter s death is confident that exposure to toxins during the cleanup caused the cancer She filed a lawsuit against BP in although the assertions have been laborious to establish in court Gremillion s suit is one of a small number of cases still pending An inspection by The Associated Press previously identified all but a handful of roughly lawsuits seeking compensation for soundness problems linked to the oil spill have been dismissed and only one has been settled In a settlement BP paid ill workers and coastal residents million but this amounted to no more than each for nearly of those seeking compensation Attorneys from the Downs Law Group representing Gremillion and around others in cases against BP say the company leveraged procedural technicalities to block sufferers from getting their day in court BP declined to comment on pending litigation In court filings BP denied assertions that oil exposure caused strength problems and attacked the credibility of curative experts brought by plaintiffs Conflict over coastal restoration The environmental impact was devastating recalled PJ Hahn who served on the frontlines as a southeast Louisiana coastal management official He watched the oil eat away at barrier islands and marsh around his group in Plaquemines Parish until it would just crumble like a cookie in hot coffee just break apart Oyster beds suffocated reefs were blanketed in chemicals and the fishing industry tanked Pelicans diving for dead fish emerged from the contaminated waters smeared in a black sheen Tens of thousands of seabirds and sea turtles were killed according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Since then key progress has been made restoring Gulf habitats and ecosystems according to The Natural Store Damage Assessment Trustee Council a group of state and federal agencies tasked with managing restoration funded by penalties levied against BP Related Articles Proposed NOAA cuts put Great Lakes research safety at pitfall experts say Minnesota environmental nonprofits join forces for Earth Day charity fundraiser The return of an extinct wolf is not the answer to saving endangered species experts warn Hoping to install solar You may have a harder time due to Trump tariffs Law firms universities and now civil society groups are in Trump s sights for punitive action The council says more than restoration projects worth billion have been approved in the Gulf of Mexico which President Donald Trump renamed the Gulf of America The projects include acquiring wetlands in Mississippi to protect nesting areas for birds rebuilding reefs along Pensacola Bay in Florida and restoring around square miles square kilometers of marsh in Lake Borgne near New Orleans While a tragedy the spill galvanized a movement one that continues to push for a healthier more resilient coast explained Simone Maloz campaign director for Restore the Mississippi River Delta a conservation coalition The influx of billions of dollars in penalties paid by BP allowed us to think bigger act faster and rely on science to guide large-scale solutions she added Yet what various conservationists see as the flagship of the restoration projects funded by the Deepwater Horizon tragedy payout an approximately billion effort to divert sediment from the Mississippi River to rebuild square miles square kilometers of land in southeast Louisiana has stalled over concerns of its impact on the livelihoods of local communities and dolphin populations Louisiana Gov Jeff Landry has explained the project would break our beliefs by harming local oyster and shrimp fisheries due to the influx of freshwater Earlier this month his administration paused the project for days citing its high costs and its future remains uncertain More offshore drilling planned for Gulf The Trump administration is seeking to sell more offshore oil and gas leases which the industry transaction group American Petroleum Institute called a big step forward for American vitality dominance BP declared an oil discovery in the Gulf last week and plans more than new wells in the next three years The company notified the AP it has improved safety standards and oversight We remain keenly aware that we must constantly put safety first BP disclosed in an emailed message We have made a large number of changes so that such an event should never happen again Still Joseph Gordon conditions and power director for the nonprofit Oceana warned Deepwater Horizon s legacy should be an alarm bell against the expansion of offshore drilling Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press Description for America Statehouse News Initiative Description for America is a nonprofit national function plan that places journalists in local newsrooms to assessment on undercovered issues Follow Brook on the social platform X jack brook