Ten years after the the devastation of BP's Deepwater Horizon platform, survivor Leo Lindner writes on the loss of his friends, misconceptions of the disaster, and the mistake of putting profits over people.
Why did BP's stock rise after the settlement was reached: payments are low and slow — except to lawyers.
Just half of the money is in hand, but if they don’t start spending the money, they’ll lose it.
The high productivity of Gulf estuaries means scavengers are abundant and quickly dispose of carcasses.
Brown pelicans were thriving on islands in Barataria Bay when BP’s oil well blew out in 2010. The oil that coated mangroves delivered the death blow to islands that already were eroding. A restoration plan is short on funding.
Since the BP oil spill, a group of environmental organizations has used private boats, planes and even satellite imagery to spot oil spills and report them to the federal government. You may be surprised to learn that they're the only ones doing this.
Loaders are lined up along the beaches between Port Fourchon and Elmer's Island to collect massive tar mats. In the past few weeks, 1.5 million pounds of oily sand and mud have been collected from one spot alone. Experts say remnants of the spill will turn up along the coast for decades.
Last week, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council approved a plan to spend fines levied on BP for the 2010 spill. So far, however, there's little money in the fund. And even if BP ends up paying close to its maximum penalty of $17.1 billion, it's unclear how much will go to Louisiana.
Louisiana's treasurer and legislative auditor say a BP donation to two nonprofit groups was an improper arrangement because the state ultimately controlled how the money was spent -- so the state Legislature should have had a say in the deal. However, an attorney general's opinion from 2010 said the terms were proper.
