Next Monday, April 20 marks a decade since Deepwater Horizon, the most devastating oil spill in our nation’s history which killed 11 people, and left hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico over a span of 87 days, and the gulf coast is still suffering the consequences. 

 Since taking office, here are just a few of the ways the Trump administration has endangered workers and put us at risk of another oil spill off of our coasts:

• 2017 – Trump signs an executive order seeking to lift a ban on drilling in the Arctic Ocean and sensitive areas of the Atlantic Ocean that was established by President Obama. Within days, the League of Conservation Voters led a coalition of conservation and Alaska Native organizations in filing our organization’s first-ever legal challenge to Trump’s action.  A federal judge would later overturn Trump’s attempt to lift the drilling ban by declaring it “unlawful” in League of Conservation Voters v. Trump.   
• 2018 – Trump and the Department of the Interior (DOI) introduce their radical five-year plan expanding offshore oil drilling to nearly all coastal waters in the U.S., opening more than a billion acres in the Arctic Ocean and along the Eastern seaboard, and giving access to leases off California for the first time in decades.
• 2019 – DOI rolls back Obama-era offshore safety standards that were put in place as a result of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, paving the way for a similar catastrophe to happen again.
• 2020 – In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration continues its favors to the oil industry by holding a lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico that produced the lowest revenue for the government since 1993 for a sale in the region, shortchanging taxpayers for the use of these public resources.  In the latest plans for oil industry relief, DOI will consider requests from oil companies for reductions in the royalties they pay to drill offshore, doling out yet another favor to the oil industry at the taxpayers’ expense.

The following statement on the ten year anniversary is attributable to LCV Legislative Representative Laura Forero:

“Despite the progress that was made during the years immediately following the devastating spill, President Trump has continuously made alarming decisions in the best interest of corporate polluters. The administration should be focused on building resiliency, advancing equity, supporting clean energy, and protecting frontline communities – especially black, brown, indigenous, and other disenfranchised communities in the Gulf. Instead, they have ignored science, lined the pockets of big oil, and left our coastal communities just as vulnerable as they were during the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe.”

Here are some helpful resources: 

• Events and reports from local and national organizations for the commemoration of the BP Drilling Disaster 10 years later
• Oil spills and accidents are on the rise under the Trump Administration
• Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy: Gulf South for a Green New Deal Policy Platform

We’d encourage you to contact Gabby LaVerghetta from STG to connect with local storytellers from the Gulf Coast about their experience during and after the oil spill: gabby@stgresults.com, 410-707-4646

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