This is a guest post from our partners at Gulf Restoration Network originally published on Friday, September 5. The ongoing impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster go to show that offshore drilling is extremely risky and when accidents happen, they can leave catastrophic impacts for many years. While the Gulf disaster is still playing out, the Obama Admnistration is moving to open the Mid- and South Atlantic to offshore drilling, an area currently protected from the offshore oil & gas industry. Let the ongoing events in the Gulf remind us why we should not allow offshore drilling to take place off our coasts and jeopardize our and coastal economy and way of life.
Last Thursday, a federal judge ruled that BP’s actions leading to the 2010 drilling disaster were grossly negligent, which means that we’re one step closer to seeing billions of dollars in BP fines for the restoration of the Gulf. This is a huge victory for GRN, our allies and supporters like you, who have worked for over four years to ensure that BP be held accountable for their actions. But even as a judge finds them “reckless,” BP is trying to wiggle their way out.
Take action today to tell BP to pay for their damage to the coast.
Following the decision, BP immediately announced its plan to appeal. And its professional spin doctors are already on the job. This week, at the Society for Environmental Journalists conference, BP’s Geoff Morrell suggested that BP was being blamed for damages “conjured up by opportunistic advocacy groups.”
We who live on the Gulf Coast see a different picture. Tell Morrell and BP to take responsibility for the damage they’ve done.
We know that the oil is still here and continues to impact our communities and environment. Tarballs continue to wash up on our beaches and coastlines, and the livelihoods of those who depend on the Gulf ecosystem have been irrevocably altered. Rather than spending millions on PR and legal fees to appeal this decision, BP needs to make it right in the Gulf: take responsibility for their actions, complete the clean-up and pay in full for the damages they caused.