"Before the oil spill, we didn't have data to tell us the health of the Gulf before 2010," she said. This is the time to push forward with continued monitoring of our ecosystem and identify what long-term studies need to be done. Moreover, it is not time to let our guard down, she said. I saved the house.' "įive years later, it's clear the legacy of the oil spill still exists, Kraft said. "That would be like me setting a house on fire and then running to get a hose and putting it out," he said. While no one is arguing the fact that BP tourism grants helped revive our economy, Lee is disturbed that BP would take any credit for helping to restore the Gulf.
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"They have TV ads saying we will make this right, then they would be in court trying to overturn a judge's ruling that they had to make it right," he said.Ī lot of businesses, both on the beach and in the mainland, still are fighting to be paid claims for loss revenue as a result of the oil spill, he said. "Buck" Lee, Santa Rosa Island Authority executive director, is also not buying BP's campaign. I think BP is being disingenuous in saying everything is OK." "I don't think it's ruined, but I don't think we can pick up our data sheets and move on. "It's premature to say the Gulf is not ruined," said Bethany Kraft, Ocean Conservancy's director of Gulf Restoration Program. Officials with Ocean Conservancy, which tracks and digests all the scientific studies dedicated to the oil spill, say studies continue to point to trouble for people and wildlife throughout the Gulf of Mexico. The trustees charged with the ongoing process of assessing the oil spill damage further stated that "BP misrepresents and misapplies data while ignoring published literature that doesn't support its claims and attempts to obscure our role as caretakers of the critical resources damaged by the spill."
State and federal Natural Resource Damage assessment trustees said in response to BP's claims, "It's inappropriate as well as premature for BP to reach conclusions about impacts from the spill before the completion of the assessment." They're also rebuffing claims by Laura Folse, executive vice president of BP Gulf Coast restoration organization, in the company's five-year report, that: "Areas that were affected are recovering and data BP has collected and analyzed to date do not indicate a significant long-term impact to the population of any Gulf species." That has a slew of national and state environmental watchdog groups, scientists and local officials marking "five years after the disaster" by sharply criticizing BP's controversial ad campaign declaring, thanks to its response and restoration efforts, "The Gulf is returning to pre-spill conditions."
View Gallery: Gallery: National Park Service team looking for oil off Perdido Keyīut when it comes to the impacts to the Gulf ecosystem, scientists researching the spill say there are still many unknowns. We're more aware and focused on how fragile our environment is and how connected it is to our economy and quality of life. Some of the 3.19 million barrels fouled an estimated 68,000 square miles of Gulf waters and nearly 500 miles of coastline from Florida to Louisiana.
Monday marks five years since the oil rig exploded unleashing a gusher of crude that spewed into the Gulf relentlessly for 87 days.
Panic set in as an oil sheen, followed by foamy orange-colored mousse, noxious fumes, and then sticky, rust-colored crude inched toward our coast for weeks on the ebb and flow of tides, currents and wind. history, doomsday predictions and visions of the Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, fueled our fears. We had no clue, however, that the explosion more than 100 miles away in the Gulf of Mexico would derail our promising tourism season, wipe out jobs dependent on those visitor dollars, slick our sugar-white beaches with oil and sicken and kill an unknown number of marine and wildlife.Īs the days and weeks unfolded and it became clearer we were facing the largest offshore disaster in U.S. On April 20, 2010, Pensacola area residents were stunned by the fiery explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that claimed the lives of 11 workers.