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Monday, April 20th, 2015

Oil Spill Has Been Leaking Into Gulf of Mexico for a Decade

Author:     Zoë Schlanger
Source:     Newsweek
Publication Date:     4/18/15 at 4:45 PM
 Link: Oil Spill Has Been Leaking Into Gulf of Mexico for a Decade
Stephan:   This is an amazing story, a whole separate saga of greed, stupidity, and corruption resulting in the degradation of the Gulf. I had never heard of it before, and I doubt you had either. This is a classic example of a regulatory agency corrupted to the point of irrelevance, and this is what journalism is supposed to do. Although one has to wonder why it has taken so long.
Footage from the Associated Press shows the Gulf of Mexico, where oil has been leaking for 10 years from a toppled Taylor Energy platform. Credit: Associated Press

Footage from the Associated Press shows the Gulf of Mexico, where oil has been leaking for 10 years from a toppled Taylor Energy platform.
Credit: Associated Press

When Hurricane Ivan struck the Gulf of Mexico off of Louisiana in 2004, the force of the waves prompted a mudslide that toppled an offshore well platform owned by Taylor Energy. Since then, more than 10 years ago, oil from the undersea wells has been leaking into the Gulf unabated.

And the leak is far larger than reported.

According to an Associated Press investigation, recent U.S. Coast Guard figures show that the volume of the continual spillage is 20 times higher than figures originally put forth by Taylor Energy. (emphasis added)

Taylor Energy for years reported that the volume the leak was declining: from 22 gallons per day in 2008, it was […]

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