Deepwater@10: Lessons learned?

A $20.8B settlement after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill some 80 miles south of the Mississippi Gulf Coast is being spent in the five regional states to help the environment and economy recover after the worst oil spill in the nation's history. Ten years ago April 20, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 people. The effects of the spill reached South Mississippi well ahead of the oil coming ashore. Tourists stopped coming to the entire Gulf Coast region. Teams of workers in hazmat suits replaced families sun bathing. Consumers worried about seafood’s safety, and businesses shut down. A decade later, a portion of the $2.2B BP paid to Mississippi may help the state get through the economic crisis of the coronavirus pandemic. In October, the Gulf Coast Restoration Fund Advisory Board recommend 14 projects to the state Legislature to be funded at $85.5M. Among the favored projects: $32.5M for USM’s Ocean Enterprise project in Gulfport; $18M to help build a YMCA in Gulfport; $8.8M for a parking garage in Ocean Springs, and millions more for technical schools and other projects. “That was before COVID-19,” said Sen. Scott DeLano, R-Biloxi, a member of the Senate appropriations committee. The oil spill anniversary comes just before the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22. The real lesson learned was nobody was ready, according to Sam Sankar, former deputy chief council of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill commission and current senior VP of litigation for Earthjustice. “We trusted the oil industry to consider the risks. We trusted them to control the risks and the damage that would result,” he said. “Ten years later, we’re no better prepared than we were back then,” he said. (Source: Sun Herald 04/20/20)https://www.sunherald.com/news/state/mississippi/article241984356.html?#storylink=cpy