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

What to know

• Fifteen years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, President Trump is planning to hold a roughly 80-million-acre oil sale in the Gulf – including the area impacted by the 2010 explosion.
• The 2010 spill devastated wildlife, tourism, fishing industries, and Gulf communities.
• According to leaked news reports, the Trump administration plans to expand offshore drilling across the nation, including in places where it hasn’t happened in decades — or ever before.

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.”

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 is planning to hold a roughly 80-million-acre oil sale in the Gulf – including the area impacted by the 2010 explosion. Trump’s offshore oil sale would endanger Gulf communities that could see their ecosystems and livelihoods devastated by another oil spill.

“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.

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.

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)

The Trump administration is also threatening to expand offshore drilling beyond the Gulf Coast.  According to leaked news reports, it plans to expand offshore drilling across the United States, including in places where it hasn’t happened in decades — or ever before, including California, Alaska’s Bering Sea, and potentially states along the Atlantic coast.

This would fly in the face of opposition from business alliances, local governments, congressional representatives, tourism groups, and local industries that for years have protected public waters in the U.S. against new offshore drilling.

Earlier this year, Earthjustice sued the Trump administration for its attempt to turn public waters off nearly every U.S. coastline into oil fields. We’re prepared to continue defending coastal communities and our vital ecosystems and forge a better path for the future.