Trump’s Ocean Drilling Order Puts Coastal Communities at Risk. Again.

JJ Waters will never forget the summer when waves of black oil began washing up along the stunning white sand beach across from her home in Pensacola Beach, Florida.

“Basically, the whole beach was covered in oil,” says Waters of the massive spill. “It was like a hurricane in slow motion.” At first, she and her son thought “they’re going to fix this,” but as the weeks turned to months, the disaster continued to unfold.

It was June 2010, some two months after the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers and turned turquoise blue waters along the barrier island black. The blast caused millions of barrels of oil to hemorrhage from pipelines and infrastructure for 87 days making it the worst marine spill in U.S. history.

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns and leaks oil on April 21, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana’s tip. The oil rig, which erupted in flames April 20, 2010, had a history of minor incidents attributed to equipment failure, human error and bad weather during its nine-year operating history, according to official records. (Gerald Herbert / AP)

“We were just waiting. Watching it from afar. Louisiana was getting the impacts much sooner,” she says. “We just had this big dread, wondering when it would affect us. I could smell the oil before I could see it. It was pretty horrific,” she reflected.

The spill dumped millions of barrels of oil in the ocean and killed more than 100,000 birds and turtles, billions of oysters, and trillions of newly hatched fish, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. More than 350 miles of plant cover and vegetation were impacted. Recreational boating, fishing, and beach activity lost $500 million in earnings.

Now, 15 years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, President Trump seeks to reopen protected areas of the Gulf coastline for oil and gas drilling, endangering coastal communities that could see their ecosystems and livelihoods devastated by another oil spill. Earthjustice is suing the Trump administration for its attempt to turn the U.S. ocean coastline into an oil field.

“Water is part of our life every day,” Waters says. “I walk on the beach in the morning. I used to windsurf and paddle board. We spend a tremendous amount of time on the water and spend a lot of time fishing. It’s an integral part of my existence.”

The spill “shattered” Waters’ community’s way of life. “We couldn’t go to the beach. We wouldn’t eat seafood. Many friends lost jobs because it affected tourism. Everybody paid a price.”

Although there were hazmat workers on the beach dispersing the oil in the aftermath, she and her adult son could see the effects for the next year.

“When we’d be offshore fishing, we’d see growths on the fish. We’d see gross stuff inside the fish,” she says, adding that she thought it might have been an indication of cancer. “We didn’t start fishing again until the following late spring and summer.”

Oil covered brown pelicans found off the Louisiana coast and affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico wait in a holding pen for cleaning at the Fort Jackson Oiled Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Buras, Louisiana on June 9, 2010. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images)

Waters cares deeply about protecting the ocean, beach, and aquatic life. She worked with the Clean Water Action project in college in the 1980s, and in later years volunteered with the Surfrider Foundation and Pensacola Beach Advocates. Today, she volunteers to protect sea turtles by identifying nests near the beach, so the nests can be staked and roped off to guard them from harm.

She has collaborated with Healthy Gulf on shoreline protection efforts. Healthy Gulf, a Louisiana-based nonprofit, works to protect the natural resources of the Gulf of Mexico while working for a just and equitable transition to clean energy.

Earthjustice is representing Healthy Gulf and other environmental groups in its lawsuit against the Trump administration’s attempt to drastically expand the use of public waters for oil and gas extraction. Upon taking office in January, Trump issued an executive order to eliminate protections for vulnerable ocean territory established by previous presidents, most recently by President Biden.

Just before leaving office, former President Biden withdrew 625 million acres of public waters the from future oil-and-gas leasing, including waters off the Atlantic, Pacific, Alaska, and Gulf coast.

“It was like a dream come true,” says Waters. “We have all this gulf that was up for the taking, so [Biden’s move] was a big deal.”

Waters wasn’t surprised that Trump immediately tried to revoke Biden’s withdrawal since he ran on a pro-oil and gas agenda spouting the constant refrain of “drill baby drill.”

Crews work to clean up oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill washed ashore at Pensacola Beach, Florida on June 23, 2010. Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, 2010 and the oil spill reached Pensacola Beach on June 4. (Michael Spooneybarger / AP)

Communities like Waters’ will bear the cost of Trump’s actions with dirtier air and water, compromised businesses and lifestyles, and the increasing threats of hurricanes and extreme weather driven by climate change. Earthjustice’s lawsuit is part of its broader work to uphold protections for these communities and ecosystems and forge a better path for the future.

No matter what happens with the lawsuit, she says she will continue advocating to protect the waters, the coast and her community.

“I love it here,” she says of Pensacola Beach. “I’m invested in the community and protecting it.”