Oil and Gas

Enviro groups call for more transparency in addressing little-known oil spill

by The Associated Press

Three environmental groups are asking federal agencies to make sure the public is involved in responses to a little known, decade-old oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana's coast.

From a Landsat-7 satellite image acquired January 7, 2015, showing a 13-mile-long oil slick emanating from Taylor Energy site.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Three environmental groups are asking federal agencies to make sure the public is involved in responses to a little known, decade-old oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana's coast.

Apalachicola Riverkeeper, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and Waterkeeper Alliance said Thursday that they fear regulators will not require further remediation at the still-leaking site where a Taylor Energy oil platform was toppled by a 2004 hurricane. They want the Interior Department and Coast Guard to make sure the decision-making process is open and that data underlying the spill are made public.

The groups were reacting to an Associated Press investigation revealing evidence that the spill is far worse than what Taylor, or the government, have publicly reported during a secretive, costly effort to halt the leak.