11/26/2025
Early one morning in March 2010, Captain Gary Jarvis cast a heavyweight line into the Gulf of Mexico from the deck of his 57 foot charter boat, Backdown 2. The sun hadn’t yet risen. But bright white spotlights from the 25-story oil rig nearby illuminated the dark waves and attracted the fisherman’s prize — yellowfin tuna. Jarvis and his two deckhands spent hours reeling in the high-dollar sportfish before turning the boat home toward Destin, Florida. It had been a good fishing day at the rig, and Jarvis assumed there would be many more.
That oil rig was BP’s Deepwater Horizon. Less than a month later, the rig exploded and sank in the oil spill that would become known by the same name. The disaster killed 11 people and injured 17. Over 200 million gallons of Louisiana crude oil flowed uncontrolled into the Gulf for 87 days before the well was plugged. Oil slicks spread thousands of miles, fouling beaches in all five Gulf states in what remains the largest marine oil spill in American history.
Fifteen years later, Gulf communities have largely moved on. After a multi-billion dollar settlement from BP and regulatory reform, the nationwide outcry over industry recklessness quieted to a murmur. The white-sand beaches, now cleaned up, draw millions of tourists once again.
But oil companies keep drilling — deeper than ever before—and they are also looking east. President Donald Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” philosophy now has some of the industry’s biggest players ready to bid on leases closer to Florida’s coast.
FULL STORY HERE :https://www.wuft.org/environment/2025-11-24/oil
