15 years after Deepwater Horizon oil spill, lawsuits stall and restoration is incomplete
NEW ORLEANS — Fifteen years after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off the Gulf Coast, killing 11 and sending 134 million gallons 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 health impacts they attribute to the oil spill have struggled to have their cases heard in court and few have received significant compensation.
Conservation groups say the spill catalyzed innovative restoration work across the Gulf Coast, but are alarmed at the recent 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.
Tying health problems to the spill remains hard to prove in court
In the coastal community of Lafitte in southeast Louisiana, Tammy Gremillion is celebrating Easter Sunday, the anniversary of the April 20 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 said. '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 breaking 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 health problems.
In 2020, 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 '1,000% confident' that exposure to toxins during the cleanup caused the cancer.
She filed a lawsuit against BP in 2022, although the allegations have been difficult to establish in court. Gremillion's suit is one of a small number of cases still pending.
An investigation by The Associated Press previously found all but a handful of roughly 4,800 lawsuits seeking compensation for health problems linked to the oil spill have been dismissed and only one has been settled.
In a 2012 settlement, BP paid ill workers and coastal residents $67 million, but this amounted to no more than $1,300 each for nearly 80% of those seeking compensation.
Attorneys from the Downs Law Group, representing Gremillion and around 100 others in cases against BP, say the company leveraged procedural technicalities to block victims from getting their day in court.
BP declined to comment on pending litigation. In court filings, BP denied allegations that oil exposure caused health problems and attacked the credibility of medical experts brought by plaintiffs.
Controversy 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 community 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, 'significant progress' has been made restoring Gulf habitats and ecosystems, according to The Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustee Council, a group of state and federal agencies tasked with managing restoration funded by penalties levied against BP.
The council says more than 300 restoration projects worth $5.38 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 4 square miles (11 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,' said 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 many conservationists see as the flagship of the restoration projects funded by the Deepwater Horizon disaster payout — an approximately $3 billion effort to divert sediment from the Mississippi River to rebuild 21 square miles (54 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 said the project would 'break our culture' by harming local oyster and shrimp fisheries due to the influx of freshwater. Earlier this month, his administration paused the project for 90 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 trade group American Petroleum Institute called 'a big step forward for American energy dominance.'
BP announced an oil discovery in the Gulf last week and plans more than 40 new wells in the next three years. The company told the AP it has improved safety standards and oversight.
'We remain keenly aware that we must always put safety first,' BP said in an emailed statement. 'We have made many changes so that such an event should never happen again.'
Still, Joseph Gordon, climate and energy director for the nonprofit Oceana, warned Deepwater Horizon's legacy should be 'an alarm bell' against the expansion of offshore drilling.
___
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Popular kids' toy sold on Amazon urgently recalled over 'serious' injury risk
Parents have been warned after a popular summer kids toy - sold on Amazon - was recalled over fears it could pose 'serious risk of injuries' due to 'accessible magnets with a magnetic flux index' A popular children's toy sold on Amazon has been recalled over fears it could pose a "serious risk of injuries". Parents have been warned not to let their kids use a specific plaything, previously available from the major online retailer. The Soppycid Reusable Water Balloons have since been removed from the website after the product recall - following fears around the safety of the items. The toy posed a safety risk because "it contains accessible magnets with a magnetic flux index that exceeds the acceptable level", according to the item's risk description. The water balloons were available to buy in a pack of six and retailed for £18. The risk description also said: "Small, high-powered magnetic products can easily be swallowed and, when ingested, have the potential to cause serious internal injuries within the gastrointestinal tract. The product also requires improvement to marking, labelling and documentation." The Office for Product Safety and Standards listed the recall and said the toys were sold via Fruggo. It said: "The product has been recalled from end users. The listings have been removed by the online marketplace (Fruugo)." It added that these toys did not meet the regulations of the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011. The toy was described as a "bag of colourful reusable water balloons, sealed with magnets" and the country of origin was said to be China. This comes two months after Easter toys sold at Home Bargains were urgently recalled due to concerns they could cause children "to choke". The retailer urged shoppers who bought the Happy Easter plush toys to return the product to stores. The company's website stated that the product, distributed by TJ Morris Ltd and sold in their stores, posed a "serious asphyxiation risk". This was due to the internal fibrous stuffing material - which could easily be accessed by kids because the stitching around the toy was weak. The toys were available in three variations – a yellow chick, a pink rabbit, and a white rabbit – and were all removed from sale. The affected toys had the barcode 10811016. Toys haven't been the only items hit with product recalls recently. Lidl was forced to pull a popular protein bar from shelves due to health fears. The Cookies & Cream Protein Bars, made by Healthy Fit, were removed from stores in Northern Ireland because they contained milk and soya. These items, which are common allergens, were not declared in English on the label. This therefore posed a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy or intolerance to milk or milk constituents, and/or an allergy to soya.
NBC News
3 days ago
- NBC News
Trump's surgeon general pick criticizes others' conflicts but profits from wellness product sales
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — President Donald Trump's pick to be the next U.S. surgeon general has repeatedly said the nation's medical, health and food systems are corrupted by special interests and people out to make a profit at the expense of Americans' health. Yet as Dr. Casey Means has criticized scientists, medical schools and regulators for taking money from the food and pharmaceutical industries, she has promoted dozens of health and wellness products — including specialty basil seed supplements, a blood testing service and a prepared meal delivery service — in ways that put money in her own pocket. A review by The Associated Press found Means, who has carved out a niche in the wellness industry, set up deals with an array of businesses. In her newsletter, on her social media accounts, on her website, in her book and during podcast appearances, the entrepreneur and influencer has at times failed to disclose that she could profit or benefit in other ways from sales of products she recommends. In some cases, she promoted companies in which she was an investor or adviser without consistently disclosing the connection, the AP found. Means, 37, has said she recommends products that she has personally vetted and uses herself. She is far from the only online creator who doesn't always follow federal transparency rules that require influencers to disclose when they have a 'material connection' to a product they promote. Still, legal and ethics experts said those business entanglements raise concerns about conflicting interests for an aspiring surgeon general, a role responsible for giving Americans the best scientific information on how to improve their health. 'I fear that she will be cultivating her next employers and her next sponsors or business partners while in office,' said Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a progressive ethics watchdog monitoring executive branch appointees. The nomination, which comes amid a whirlwind of Trump administration actions to dismantle the government's public integrity guardrails, also has raised questions about whether Levels, a company Means co-founded that sells subscriptions for devices that continuously monitor users' glucose levels, could benefit from this administration's health guidance and policy. Though scientists debate whether continuous glucose monitors are beneficial for people without diabetes, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promoted their use as a precursor to making certain weight-loss drugs available to patients. The aspiring presidential appointee has built her own brand in part by criticizing doctors, scientists and government officials for being 'bought off' or 'corrupt' because of ties to industry. Means' use of affiliate marketing and other methods of making money from her recommendations for supplements, medical tests and other health and dietary products raise questions about the extent to which she is influenced by a different set of special interests: those of the wellness industry. A compelling origin story Means earned her medical degree from Stanford University, but she dropped out of her residency program in Oregon in 2018, and her license to practice is inactive. She has grown her public profile in part with a compelling origin story that seeks to explain why she left her residency and conventional medicine. 'During my training as a surgeon, I saw how broken and exploitative the healthcare system is and left to focus on how to keep people out of the operating room,' she wrote on her website. Means turned to alternative approaches to address what she has described as widespread metabolic dysfunction driven largely by poor nutrition and an overabundance of ultra-processed foods. She co-founded Levels, a nutrition, sleep and exercise-tracking app that can also give users insights from blood tests and continuous glucose monitors. The company charges $199 per year for an app subscription and an additional $184 per month for glucose monitors. Means has argued that the medical system is incentivized not to look at the root causes of illness but instead to maintain profits by keeping patients sick and coming back for more prescription drugs and procedures. 'At the highest level of our medical institutions, there are conflicts of interest and corruption that are actually making the science that we're getting not as accurate and not as clean as we'd want it,' she said on Megyn Kelly's podcast last year. But even as Means decries the influence of money on science and medicine, she has made her own deals with business interests. During the same Megyn Kelly podcast, Means mentioned a frozen prepared food brand, Daily Harvest. She promoted that brand in a book she published last year. What she didn't mention in either instance: Means had a business relationship with Daily Harvest. Growing an audience, and selling products Influencer marketing has expanded beyond the beauty, fashion and travel sectors to 'encompass more and more of our lives,' said Emily Hund, author of 'The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media.' With more than 825,000 followers on Instagram and a newsletter that she has said reached 200,000 subscribers, Means has a direct line into the social media feeds and inboxes of an audience interested in health, nutrition and wellness. Affiliate marketing, brand partnerships and similar business arrangements are growing more popular as social media becomes increasingly lucrative for influencers, especially among younger generations. Companies might provide a payment, free or discounted products or other benefits to the influencer in exchange for a post or a mention. But most consumers still don't realize that a personality recommending a product might make money if people click through and buy, said University of Minnesota professor Christopher Terry. 'A lot of people watch those influencers, and they take what those influencers say as gospel,' said Terry, who teaches media advertising and internet law. Even his own students don't understand that influencers might stand to benefit from sales of the products they endorse, he added. Many companies, including Amazon, have affiliate marketing programs in which people with substantial social media followings can sign up to receive a percentage of sales or some other benefit when someone clicks through and buys a product using a special individualized link or code shared by the influencer. Means has used such links to promote various products sold on Amazon. Among them are books, including the one she co-wrote, 'Good Energy'; a walking pad; soap; body oil; hair products; cardamom-flavored dental floss; organic jojoba oil; a razor set; reusable kitchen products; sunglasses; a sleep mask; a silk pillowcase; fitness and sleep trackers; protein powder and supplements. She also has shared links to products sold by other companies that included 'affiliate' or 'partner' coding, indicating she has a business relationship with the companies. The products include an AI-powered sleep system and Daily Harvest, for which she curated a 'metabolic health collection.' On a 'My Faves' page that was taken down from her website shortly after Trump picked her, Means wrote that some links 'are affiliate links and I make a small percentage if you buy something after clicking them.' It's not clear how much money Means has earned from her affiliate marketing, partnerships and other agreements. Daily Harvest did not return messages seeking comment, and Means said she could not comment on the record during the confirmation process. Disclosing conflicts Means has raised concerns that scientists, regulators and doctors are swayed by the influence of industry, oftentimes pointing to public disclosures of their connections. In January, she told the Kristin Cavallari podcast 'Let's Be Honest' that 'relationships are influential.' 'There's huge money, huge money going to fund scientists from industry,' Means said. 'We know that when industry funds papers, it does skew outcomes.' In November, on a podcast run by a beauty products brand, Primally Pure, she said it was 'insanity' to have people connected to the processed food industry involved in writing food guidelines, adding, 'We need unbiased people writing our guidelines that aren't getting their mortgage paid by a food company.' On the same podcast, she acknowledged supplement companies sponsor her newsletter, adding, 'I do understand how it's messy.' Influencers who endorse or promote products in exchange for payment or something else of value are required by the Federal Trade Commission to make a clear and conspicuous disclosure of any business, family or personal relationship. While Means did provide disclosures about newsletter sponsors, the AP found in other cases Means did not always tell her audience when she had a connection to the companies she promoted. For example, a 'Clean Personal & Home Care Product Recommendations' guide she links to from her website contains two dozen affiliate or partner links and no disclosure that she could profit from any sales. Means has said she invested in Function Health, which provides subscription-based lab testing for $500 annually. Of the more than a dozen online posts the AP found in which Means mentioned Function Health, more than half did not disclose she had any affiliation with the company. Means also listed the supplement company Zen Basil as a company for which she was an 'Investor and/or Advisor.' The AP found posts on Instagram, X and on Facebook where Means promoted its products without disclosing the relationship. Though the 'About' page on her website discloses an affiliation with both companies, that's not enough, experts said. She is required to disclose any material connection she has to a company anytime she promotes it. Representatives for Function Health did not return messages seeking comment through their website and executives' LinkedIn profiles. Zen Basil's founder, Shakira Niazi, did not answer questions about Means' business relationship with the company or her disclosures of it. She said the two had known each other for about four years and called Means' advice 'transformational,' saying her teachings reversed Niazi's prediabetes and other ailments. 'I am proud to sponsor her newsletter through my company,' Niazi said in an email. While the disclosure requirements are rarely enforced by the FTC, Means should have been informing her readers of any connections regardless of whether she was violating any laws, said Olivier Sylvain, a Fordham Law School professor who was previously a senior adviser to the FTC chair. 'What you want in a surgeon general, presumably, is someone who you trust to talk about tobacco, about social media, about caffeinated alcoholic beverages, things that present problems in public health,' Sylvain said, adding, 'Should there be any doubt about claims you make about products?' Potential conflicts pose new ethical questions Means isn't the first surgeon general nominee whose financial entanglements have raised eyebrows. Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general from 2017 to 2021, filed federal disclosure forms that showed he invested in several health technology, insurance and pharmaceutical companies before taking the job — among them Pfizer, Mylan and UnitedHealth Group. He also invested in the food and drink giant Nestle. He divested those stocks when he was confirmed for the role and pledged that he and his immediate family would not acquire financial interest in certain industries regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Vivek Murthy, who served as surgeon general twice, under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, made more than $2 million in COVID-19-related speaking and consulting fees from Carnival, Netflix, Estee Lauder and Airbnb between holding those positions. He pledged to recuse himself from matters involving those parties for a period of time. Means has not yet gone through a Senate confirmation hearing and has not yet announced the ethical commitments she will make for the role. Hund said that as influencer marketing becomes more common, it is raising more ethical questions, such as what past influencers who enter government should do to avoid the appearance of a conflict. Other administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, have also promoted companies on social media without disclosing their financial ties. 'This is like a learning moment in the evolution of our democracy,' Hund said. 'Is this a runaway train that we just have to get on and ride, or is this something that we want to go differently?'
The Independent
4 days ago
- The Independent
Canada wildfires: How to keep yourself safe as smoke from deadly inferno reaches Europe
Smoke from the deadly Canada wildfires is blanketing parts of the US and Europe, causing widespread air quality concerns. The Environmental Protection Agency has reported "very unhealthy" air quality in the Midwest, Northeast, and Great Lakes regions of the US, prompting expert recommendations for precautionary measures. The EPA's Air Quality Index (AQI) translates pollutant levels into a single, easily understandable number: the lower the number, the better the air quality. An AQI below 50 is considered "healthy," 50 to 100 is "moderate," 100 to 150 is unhealthy for "sensitive groups," and anything above 150 is hazardous for everyone. On Wednesday, the Air Quality Index in many parts of the Upper Midwest hovered around 160. Dr Sanjay Sethi, chief of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine at the University of Buffalo's medical school, said that sensitive groups include individuals with asthma, lung disease, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, who are particularly vulnerable to the effects of poor air quality. 'If you have heart or lung problems, then you've got to be definitely more careful," Sethi said. "I would either avoid going outside or wear an N95 (mask) or at least a dust mask.' Is my air unhealthy? Sometimes the air is bad enough to see or smell the smoke. Even if you don't see the pollution, it can be unhealthy to breathe. The EPA maintains a website with up-to-date, regional air quality information. PurpleAir, a company that sells air quality sensors and publishes real-time air quality data, has a citizen scientist, air quality monitoring network with a more granular map of street-by-street air quality readings. The best way to get indoor air quality readings is to buy a monitor, said Joseph Allen, director of Harvard University 's Healthy Buildings Program. 'You can find these low-cost, indoor air quality monitors just about everywhere online now. They don't cost all that much anymore,' Sethi said. What if I have to go outside? For most people, going outside for just a short time won't have a negative long-term impact, said Sethi. Wearing an N95 mask, which became common during the coronavirus pandemic, will help filter out the pollution. 'N95 is going to get rid of 90-95 per cent of the particles,' said Jennifer Stowell, a research scientist at Boston University's Center for Climate and Health. 'If you have access to a mask that has a respirator-type attachment to it, then that's the very best.' If you must be outside and you experience symptoms, experts say you should head indoors or somewhere else with better air quality. Even if you are healthy, it's good to take precautions. "If you start wheezing, which is like this whistling sound of the chest, or if you're feeling short of breath, that's definitely more concerning,' Sethi said. How do I make my air cleaner? Close the windows and turn on the air conditioner, if you have one, setting it to circulate the indoor air. Use blankets to cover cracks that allow outside air into your home, such as under doors. Finally, swapping the air conditioner's filter for a MERV 13 filter can help, though you should make sure it's installed correctly. 'If you happen to have access to an air purifier, even if it's just a room air purifier, try to keep it running and in the room that you're doing most of your activities in,' said Stowell.
