Settlement Sets Disclosure on Decade-old Gulf Oil Leak

You'd think there shouldn't be such a thing as a secret oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Earlier this year, the Associated Press uncovered an offshore well in the Gulf that had been leaking for a decade. Now — thanks to a lawsuit from environmentalists — the details will be revealed.

A settlement was announced August 27, 2015, between Taylor Energy Co. (owner of the well) and three environmental groups (Apalachicola Riverkeeper, Louisiana Environmental Action Network and the Waterkeeper Alliance, represented by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic). Under it, Taylor would pay for studies on the effects of oil spills on the Gulf and disclose information about the spill and the response to it.

The leak started when an oil platform collapsed during Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and became hard to stop when an underwater mudslide buried a cluster of wrecked wells. The company (with federal help) managed to prevent people from knowing about the extent of the leak for years. Then the AP investigated.

"An Associated Press investigation has revealed evidence," the AP wrote in April 2015, "that the spill is far worse than what Taylor — or the government — have publicly reported during their secretive, and costly, effort to halt the leak. Presented with AP's findings, that the sheen recently averaged about 91 gallons of oil per day across eight square miles, the Coast Guard provided a new leak estimate that is about 20 times greater than one recently touted by the company."

The agreed-upon disclosure has not yet begun.

• "Company: Settlement Reached in Lawsuit Over Gulf Oil Leak," Associated Press, August 27, 2015, by Kevin McGill.
• "A Broken Well Has Been Leaking Oil into the Gulf Of Mexico for the Last 10 Years," Climate Progress, August 28, 2015, by Natasha Geiling.
• "Collapsed Gulf Oil Platform Has Been Leaking Since 2004, Investigation Finds," Associated Press, April 16, 2015.
• "Lawmakers Back Company Responsible for Decade-Old Gulf Leak," Associated Press, July 17, 2015.
• "Veil of Secrecy Finally Lifted on Taylor Energy’s Decade Long Oil Leak," Waterkeeper Alliance, release of September 8, 2015, by Maia Raposo (includes links to filed settlement documents).