A Gulf Coast environmental group is suing the Trump administration, arguing that its practice of granting regulatory waivers to offshore oil and gas drillers is not only illegal, but dangerous as well.
Critical Safety Test Inspired by Deepwater Horizon Offshore Explosion
The waivers allow drillers to avoid testing a rig’s blowout preventer, a critical piece of equipment that prevents uncontrolled releases from a well.
The testing requirements were put in place after a blowout preventer failed aboard BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April 2010, resulting in a catastrophic explosion that killed 11 offshore workers, seriously injured dozens of others, and polluted the Gulf of Mexico with more than 3.2 million barrels of crude oil.
The subsequent investigation into the Deepwater Horizon offshore explosion found that the rig’s blowout preventer was last inspected in 2005. The equipment had also been damaged in a previously unreported incident.
A “Secret and Unlawful” Attempt to Change Offshore Drilling Rules
The testing requirements were part of the Well Control Rule enacted in 2016 to prevent another disastrous offshore explosion. The Trump administration has significantly weakened the Well Control Rule since the President took office, but that apparently hasn’t stopped offshore drillers from seeking – and winning – waivers to the blowout preventer testing requirements.
According to a lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C. federal court on September 26th by Democracy Forward, these waivers constitute a “secret and unlawful” attempt to amend offshore drilling regulations for the benefit of industry.
“By returning the regulation of blowout preventers to the pre-Deepwater Horizon status quo, Defendants have substantially increased the chances of a catastrophic oil spill in United States coastal waters and, in turn, the chances of irreparable damage to the natural resources upon which Plaintiff’s members rely,” the complaint states.
Washington, D.C.-based Democracy Forward filed the lawsuit on behalf of Healthy Gulf, a Louisiana nonprofit environmental group that advocates for the protection of the Gulf of Mexico.
“Weakening protections for blowout preventer systems in offshore drilling is a slap in the face to Gulf workers, fishers, and coastal residents and businesses,” said Cynthia Sarthou, Executive Director of Healthy Gulf.
Gulf of Mexico Hasn’t Recovered From Deepwater Horizon Explosion
Nearly a decade later, the Gulf of Mexico has yet to recover from the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Earlier this month, for example, researchers from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium reported that the seafloor within 160 feet of the wellhead was still little more than wasteland, with overall species diversity hitting rock bottom.
“We should be seeing glass sponges, giant isopods, fish, corals, sea cucumbers,” Craig McClain, director of the consortium, told NOLA.com. “All of these are common deep-sea Gulf of Mexico animals. But when you get near the wellhead, you see none of that.”
Tar balls from the BP oil spill still wash up on Gulf Coast beaches, with the latest study predicting that they’ll continue to do so for the next 30 years.
The nation’s worst offshore explosion was a financial disaster as well, costing Gulf Coast fisheries between $4.7 million and $1.6 billion. The catastrophe also caused as many as 9,314 people to lose their jobs.
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