Do you think that you had a bad year in 2015? I can almost guarantee that economically, it wasn’t as bad as it was for BP, the British oil giant behind the worst oil spill in American history. This week, BP officially it announced its earnings for the quarter and for the year — but the term “earnings” is something of a misnomer. Indeed, the Big Oil icon lost a whopping $6...
It’s not much of a Valentine’s Day for much of America, snowed in by yet another massive winter storm. But here in the Gulf, one of the few parts of the nation that’s snow-free, we’re dealing with a different kind of heartache these days: A flurry of scientific reports documenting the very real, and very traumatic, impacts from the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe and spill...
More than three years out, the pace of independent scientific research into the aftermath of the BP oil spill is increasing. These new reports are exactly the kind of outside analysis that both the oil giant and the federal government worked so hard to discourage in the months immediately after the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in April 2010. As many feared, scientists are gathering new evidence...
This has become a familiar storyline: Another month, and another study showing that the kind of toxic dispersant that was dumped so indiscriminately in the Gulf of Mexico in the weeks immediately after the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe poses a significant threat to the long-term health of marine life. This latest study deserves particularly close attention, because of the rigorous scientific...
Here’s one thing that I’ve encountered in my career as an environmental lawyer that’s only become worse in recent years. Those in power — such as Big Oil and the politicians and their bureaucrats that enable them — are terrified of academic free speech, especially in the arena of science. That’s because in business and in politics, it’s all about...
Now that we’re more than two years out from the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, a good bit of scientific research is starting to come in. Most of the findings — unfortunately, but predictably — are not good news for the Gulf Coast. Many of these studies are showing that oil has been more damaging to fish or other marine creatures, or to the region’s fragile wetlands, than...
