SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
british petroleum (bp)
Lingering Poison: My Witness to Deepwater Horizon’s Legacy on the Gulf Coast
Fifteen years after the oil spill, the legacy of Corexit dispersants continues to manifest in the broken bodies and shattered lives of those who were exposed, including those who spoke out to save future generations.
Apr 20, 2025
As the mother of a childhood cancer survivor from a coastal Alabama cluster, I reflect on the 15th anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster with anger and frustration at the countless lives needlessly destroyed by the spill and its “cleanup.” But more than anything, I am afraid… I am afraid because the same chemicals that wrought havoc on Gulf communities aren’t being disposed of—they are being rebranded to be reused.
During my seven years of assisting cleanup workers at a Miami-based law firm and Government Accountability Project, I saw the stuff of medical nightmares manifest in real life as I came face-to-face with an innocuously named monster: Corexit. Corexit is a chemical oil dispersant that was used liberally in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster to break up oil slicks into smaller droplets that can be submerged underwater. While Corexit was once described as being “as safe as dish soap” by a BP executive, the final chapter of its use in the Deepwater Horizon disaster was not to be told via feel-good commercials of freshly cleaned ducklings. It is still being written by outsiders documenting the broken lives of the men and women who can no longer speak for themselves after volunteering to clean the Gulf.
Many of the men and women who volunteered to clean the Gulf, a body of water that bound together their communities, jobs, and very way of life, died in the months and years after exposure to Corexit, often from serious diseases including blood and pancreatic cancers—silencing their voices long before justice could be served. I personally knew dozens who were exposed and subsequently left the Earth far too soon.
The corporate shell game of rebranding these toxic chemicals under new names must not distract us from the fundamental truth that these dispersants should never be used again in our waters.
I still think about Captain Bill, who came to us when Stage 4 colon cancer appeared after running a supply boat to the sinking Deepwater Horizon rig. He did not believe all the hype from environmentalists about the dangers of dispersants until he got crop-dusted with them. He developed softball sized cysts all over his body filled with bacteria and was left with just months to live. He left behind a wife and three children, including a young son with autism.
I remember Sandra, a woman who always exuded joy during the 20 years I’d known her. Her job for BP required her to hop on and off oil-contaminated boats; she tragically developed a rare myeloproliferative disorder that ended her life at age 60. She left behind a husband who missed her so profoundly that he lasted only a few months without her.
Corexit has been proven to have deadly side effects within humans, but that won’t stop corporate greed from slapping a new label on it and sending it to a different country. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was in the process of finalizing new rules and regulations governing the usage of oil dispersants. Right before the rules were set to be finalized, the manufacturer of Corexit abruptly discontinued its product line which constituted over 45% of globally stockpiled dispersants. This was likely not coincidental; the new EPA rules require manufacturers to truthfully report known or anticipated harm to human health and wildlife from their products. Corexit’s parent company chose to withdraw from the U.S. market while re-registering the same toxic products in the United Kingdom and Brazil in 2024, with France also considering approval.
People and communities were falsely reassured about the safety of the working conditions, as BP told workers personal protective gear was unnecessary when dealing with the chemicals. Now, with the risks and threats of exposure known, the protective gear could have saved hundreds of lives and communities from devastation.
Fifteen years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the legacy of Corexit dispersants continues to manifest in the broken bodies and shattered lives of those who were exposed, including those who spoke out to save future generations. The corporate shell game of rebranding these toxic chemicals under new names must not distract us from the fundamental truth that these dispersants should never be used again in our waters. The time has come to close this dark chapter in our history and commit to solutions that truly protect both our coasts and the people who call them home.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Obscene': BP Has Paid Out $27 Billion to Shareholders Since Russia Invaded Ukraine
"Instead of helping to rebuild Ukraine, ease the burden of high bills, or support countries suffering from the climate crisis, BP is making the rich richer," one campaigner said.
May 07, 2024
Oil major BP has paid out $27.4 billion to shareholders since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Global Witness found in an analysis published Tuesday.
The environmental justice group released its calculations one day after BP announced its profits for the first quarter of 2024: The company made a total of $2.7 billion and spent $1.75 billion—more than half that amount—on share buybacks.
"It's obscene that anyone would profit from the Ukraine war, the energy crisis, or the climate crisis, but that's what's happening," Alice Harrison, head of fossil fuel campaigns at Global Witness, said in a statement. "With the biggest spoils going to one of the richest, most destructive industries in the world—the fossil fuel industry."
"Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, [oil companies] are seen as providing countries with energy security rather than being terrible companies polluting the world—and they have used that to their advantage."
BP's first-quarter profit announcement came one day after the Financial Timesreported that shareholders expected the company to relax its plans to reduce oil and gas production. The company is currently the only major player in the industry that has committed to actually curbing production, with a reduction target of 25% of 2019 levels by 2030. That target, set in 2023, was already a scaling back of its 2020 goal to cut production by 40% by the end of the decade.
However, in January, Murray Auchincloss replaced Bernard Looney as BP's CEO, and shareholders say he has different priorities.
"Murray is saying outwardly that there's no change, but behind the scenes he's being a lot more pragmatic, returns-focused, and hard-nosed about it," one anonymous investor told FT. "We'd all love them to build more in renewables but from a shareholder point of view, returns are not there."
Shareholders also spoke candidly about how Russia's invasion of Ukraine had impacted the industry.
"Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, [oil companies] are seen as providing countries with energy security rather than being terrible companies polluting the world—and they have used that to their advantage," one said.
Another speculated that BP's rumored change in strategy was "partly a response to market pricing" as higher interest rates made renewable energy projects more expensive while the Ukraine war raised oil prices.
In a recent letter to BP's board, activist shareholder Bluebell Capital Partners said that if the company was planning to raise production, as it had suggested privately to shareholders, then that "should be reflected in BP's official communication and targets."
However, a U.S. Senate hearing last week focusing on major oil companies including BP revealed that the industry has a history of saying one thing and doing another when it comes to climate targets. For example, while BP has committed to the Paris climate agreement on its website, in internal emails shared at the hearing, the company admitted that "no one is committed to anything, other than to stay in the game."
In response to BP's quarterly profits, Oxfam argued that oil and gas companies cannot be trusted to regulate themselves.
"With BP's earnings once again in the billions and its oil production higher than the last quarter, we clearly cannot rely on fossil fuel companies to lead us out of the escalating climate crisis," Oxfam Great Britain's senior climate justice policy adviser, Chiara Ligouri, said in a statement. "The buck must stop with the government. Instead of adding fuel to the fire by allowing new oil and gas licenses, they can and should be taxing fossil fuel companies like BP more to ensure they pay their fair share for damage caused by their activities."
"We need faster and fairer action to support people living in poverty—in the U.K. and globally—who did the least to cause the crisis but who are now suffering the most, and fossil fuel companies should foot the bill," Ligouri added.
Harrison of Global Witness also called for a transition to renewable energy.
"Instead of helping to rebuild Ukraine, ease the burden of high bills, or support countries suffering from the climate crisis, BP is making the rich richer," Harrison said. "And this will continue to be the case until we make the urgent switch to a clean energy system."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Heatwave Chevron? As US Bakes, Former Meteorologist Names Heatwaves After Oil Companies
Guy Walton said he chose the naming system "to shame them in the process and to identify culprits that are exacerbating these deadly systems."
Jul 20, 2023
As more than a fifth of the U.S. population braces for air temperatures or heat indices of more than 105°F this weekend, one former meteorologist has an idea for how to remind the public who is to blame: name major heatwaves after fossil fuel companies.
Guy Walton, who once worked for The Weather Channel, now runs a blog dedicated to monitoring extreme weather. He has dubbed the heatwave that began over California in early July and has now stretched all the way to the southeast Heatwave Chevron.
"I'm naming heatwaves to highlight this worsening climate problem and perhaps save lives by getting the public to focus on this weather threat," he wrote in an April blog post. "This year I'm naming major heatwaves after oil companies to shame them in the process and to identify culprits that are exacerbating these deadly systems."
"Heat extremes have increased in likelihood and intensity worldwide due to climate change, with tens of thousands of deaths directly attributable."
Heatwaves are the deadliest type of extreme weather event in the U.S., according to The Weather Channel, killing more people on average each year than tornadoes or hurricanes put together. Yet they do not receive names like hurricanes or wildfires, and some experts have argued that changing this might help people take them more seriously and save lives. For example, the city of Seville, Spain, has become one of the first to start ranking and naming heatwaves with a view toward encouraging the public to take greater precautions.
"It seems to be working as we intended from last year—and has actually started to change some behavior," Kurt Shickman, director of Arsht-Rock's heat initiative, toldE&E New in June.
Heatwaves are also the extreme weather event most clearly attributable to the climate crisis caused primarily by the burning of oil, gas, and coal, a 2022 study found.
"Heat extremes have increased in likelihood and intensity worldwide due to climate change, with tens of thousands of deaths directly attributable," the study authors wrote.
So far this year, Walton has named three U.S. heatwaves after fossil fuel companies, moving down a list he proposed in April, along with Category 1 to 5 ranking system modeled after the Saffir-Simpson scale for hurricanes.
The first, Heatwave Amoco in the Pacific Northwest, briefly reached Category 3 status in May and damaged Canadian oil and gas production by igniting wildfires.
"Perhaps Mother Nature is trying to tell us go leave fossil fuels in the ground, otherwise heatwaves like Amoco or worse with more smoke choking wildfires will be an end result," Walton wrote at the time.
Next came Heatwave British Petroleum, which reached Category 4 status and baked Texas, parts of the Southwest, and Mexico in June. The heatwave was made at least five times more likely by the climate crisis, Climate Central calculated.
Heatwave Chevron has also reached Category 4 status—which Walton defines as breaking several all-time records and causing 100 to 1,000 deaths. One concern about the heatwave is that it has continued to stretch on and on.
"One reason why the thing is historic and likely to be blamed for more than 100 deaths is it's persistence," he wrote.
One Wednesday, the city of Phoenix, Arizona, reported its 20th day in a row of temperatures 110°F, as well as its highest all-time daily average temperature at 108°F, according to the local branch of the National Weather Service (NWS). Tucson, Arizona, also broke a record for the number of days over 110°F in a year, at 11.
"Will we break this record again tomorrow?" NWS Tucson asked.
On the same day, the NWS Austin/San Antonio announced that Austin, Texas, had hit its 10th day in a row of temperatures 105°F or higher for the first time on record.
Also on Wednesday, the cities of Miami, Florida; El Paso, Texas; and Las Cruces, New Mexico, all broke records for the number of days in a row with a heat index of 100°F or higher at 38 days, 33 days, and 17 days respectively, ABC News reported.
All of this heat has taken a toll on human health. At least 18 people have died because of heat in Arizona's Maricopa County alone, though authorities are investigating another 69 deaths. A 71-year-old man also died in California's Death Valley National Park Tuesday, most likely after hiking in 121°F heat.
And relief is not in sight. As of Thursday morning, around 115 million people were under heat alerts in more than 12 states, Axios reported. Over the weekend, more than 20% of the U.S. population, or 80 million people, could face either an air temperature or heat index higher than 105°F. A heat index is how the air feels on the skin when heat combines with humidity, and a heat index of 103°F or higher can cause dangerous health complications.
"Take the heat seriously and avoid extended time outdoors," the NWS cautioned, as Axios reported. "Temperatures and heat indices will reach levels that would pose a health risk, and be potentially deadly, to anyone without effective cooling and/or adequate hydration."
Walton said that Heatwave Chevron could reduce its range next week and shrink back to the West, but later, it could again extend north and east, where it could "make life miserable for the Midwest, which is one of the few areas across the Northern Hemisphere that has seen below average temperatures this summer."
As the nation continues to bake, does Walton think naming heatwaves after fossil fuel companies might catch on? Walton toldThe Guardian he would like to see newscasters name major heatwaves, but thought it was unlikely they would adopt his naming method.
"I'm trying to be a bug in the ear of my compatriots to take what I'm doing and run with it," he said. "I realize what I'm doing is controversial and corporate media will want to steer clear of it, but people need to be riled up. I don't think we need to pull any punches. If it causes consternation, so be it."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular