20 Years After Deepwater Horizon, Satellite Data Show Ongoing Spills Of 300,000 Gallons From Just 20 Offshore Rigs

[hatrack]

April 20 marked 15 years since BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, releasing 134 million gallons of oil off the coast of Louisiana in the country’s largest oil spill. Oil gushed for nearly three months, covering an area on the surface of the water the size of Oklahoma. The spill devastated fisheries, seabirds, turtles, whales and endangered species. Scientists are still studying the lasting harms today. Days after the anniversary, the environmental nonprofit SkyTruth published its latest white paper, naming the top polluting offshore oil rigs in the world while calculating their environmental costs in spilled oil, greenhouse gas emissions and methane flaring.

Despite clear evidence that oil spills are an ongoing problem, the U.S. has only increased offshore drilling since then. Last month, the Trump administration launched the five-year process for selling new oil and gas leases, including new areas off the coast of Alaska. At the same time, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to sunset rules for all new and existing offshore drilling regulations, among them those passed after the Deepwater Horizon spill aimed at preventing another such underwater rupture.

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In 2010, John Amos, a geologist and founder of SkyTruth, watched the Deepwater spill grow from his basement home office in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Insteading of looking at the TV, he pulled up NASA satellite imagery. Amos, originally trained in analyzing satellite data to find prime drilling sites in the ocean, now used those same skills to see just how far and fast the slick was spreading. He suspected the extent was much larger than estimates from the Coast Guard and BP. “I remember being terrified,” Amos said. “I wanted to help and get information out as fast as possible so the Coast Guard could have it.”

In a blog he posted on April 27, 2010, Amos shared satellite images and annotated maps. The post went viral and soon Amos was on the news, explaining his calculations for measuring the true size of the spill. Months later, the federal government upped its estimate of the oil flow rate to 53 times higher than their original numbers. Amos and SkyTruth have continued monitoring satellites to observe all types of pollution from offshore oil and gas drilling. In their white paper, published April 23, researchers examined satellite imagery between June 2023 and October 2024, and estimated 20 offshore oil facilities accounted for nearly 300,000 gallons of oil released during that time.

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16052025/researchers-reveal-most-polluting-oil-rigs/

[taxi]

1. Hands Across The Sand events continue yearly!

We held one inland at Lake Eola in Orlando for those who couldn't travel to a beach. It was a great day. Now, it looks like No Kings events will greatly outnumber Hands.

On June 26, 2010, in response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Hands Across the Sand went National and Global. The event was announced and the website went live allowing event organizers sign up only four weeks prior to June 26th. It became the largest gathering of people in the history of the world united against expanding offshore oil drilling and championing clean energy and renewables. Over 1000 events were held worldwide. Events took place in all 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Events were held in 42 countries outside the U.S. including Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Belize, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Greenland, Greece, Croatia, Ireland, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Lebanon, Mexico, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, Tanzania, and South Africa.

https://beachapedia.org/Hands_Across_the_Sand