![]() ![]() In the US South, which bore the brunt of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, it is largely poor people and people of color who make up the fenceline communities situated alongside the numerous refineries, chemical plants, and landfill sites that represent such a large part of the region’s economy. ![]() Using citizen science methods such as crowdsourced online maps and improvised aerial photographic devices, these groups were able to challenge expert assessments of the spill and magnify the voices of those most affected by it. Dissatisfied with the limited scope of official spill monitoring efforts and frustrated at BP’s dogged attempts to downplay the severity of the disaster, many people in and around the Gulf Coast took part in citizen-led initiatives to measure and publicize the full extent of the spill’s impacts on their lives. There is a tragically familiar story of negligence, corporate greed, and disregard for nature to be told here, but it belies another story which has received far less attention: that of the various concerned citizens, activist groups, and environmental non-profits that responded to the spill as it unfolded. Deepwater Horizon is most commonly remembered for this sheer scale of devastation, and for the institutional failures and culture of risk-taking within BP that led to the spill. It amounted to, by far, the biggest oil spill in American history, with catastrophic consequences for both the human and non-human denizens of the Gulf Coast. The name evokes grim, apocalyptic images: plumes of fire and thick smoke above the ocean dark, shimmering slicks lying heavy on the water’s surface seabirds choked in sticky tar, their feathers matted and eyes glazed. Isabel Holtan The Battle of BP and the Bucket Brigade By Zak Lakota-Baldwinįew environmental disasters are more notorious in the West than the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. ![]()
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