15 years after Deepwater Horizon oil spill, lawsuits stall and restoration is incomplete
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Source: NBC News/AP
April 21, 2025, 4:57 AM EDT
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.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/15-years-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-lawsuits-stall-restoration-incomp-rcna202083
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Unfortunately, with the current maladministration, those lawsuits may be essentially DOA. 
