Photo: Gerald Herbert/AP/REX/Shutterstock
“There has been an uptrend of the areas of the slick during the last two years,” Oscar Pineda-Garcia, an adjunct professor at Florida State University who also operates a company that charts oil spills, told theAP. The oil is so thick in some areas of the Gulf that people have had to wear respirator masks because the fumes are overwhelming, Pineda-Garcia added.
Worse yet, the leak is likely to continue for the rest of the century as there is no clear way as of yet to cap the remaining wells, thePostreported.
Gerald Herbert/AP/REX/Shutterstock
The accident will soon become one of the most damaging oil-related catastrophes the world has ever seen, even surpassing the damage done during theDeepwater Horizon disaster.
The spill went unreported to the public for years after it happened.
“Taylor Energy reported the spill to the Coast Guard, which monitored the site for more than half a decade without making the public fully aware of the mess it was seeing,” thePost, citing a lawsuit between the company and its insurer, reported.
“Four years after the leak started, in July 2008, the Coast Guard informed the company that the spill had been deemed ‘a continuous, unsecured crude oil discharge’ that posed ‘a significant threat to the environment.’ ”
Taylor Energy and its hired contractors were able to cap about a third of the wells during their efforts, but the process was hindered as they were banned from boring or drilling to minimize the risk of hitting a pipe and worsening the spill. Though the company built a “shield” to stop the oil from reaching the waters’ service, the leaks continued.
“Fourteen years after the Taylor spill, and 10 years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the federal government still doesn’t know the spills’ full impact on marine life,” thePostsaid.“And there is no economic analysis showing the value of the oil flowing into the sea and potential royalties lost to taxpayers. Activists also want an analysis to determine if oil is ruining marshland and making its way to beaches.”
A representative for Taylor Energy did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The news comes at a time when the Trump Administration is aiming to expand offshore drilling for the oil and gas industry.
As thePostnoted, the administration wants to expand drilling in areas along the Atlantic coast, where hurricanes hit far more often than the Gulf — and they may only become more frequent due to warming temperatures and waters.
source: people.com
