14 DAY TRIAL // It's been three years since the Deepwater Horizon spill, but coastal workers and researchers are still finding evidence of the damage caused to the environment by the oil that leaked into the Gulf of Mexico between April 20 and July 14, 2010.
Recent news on the topic says that a tar mat weighing approximately 40,000 pounds (20 tons) has recently been discovered along the Louisiana coast.
It was unearthed at a distance of approximately 90 miles (almost 145 kilometers) south of New Orleans. Its precise location was under the surf off of Isle Grand Terre.
The tar mat formed in the aftermath of the BP oil spill, and was made up of oil residue and sand. Specialist explain that it contained some 15% oil, and 85% sand, shells and water.
It measured 165 feet (50.2 meters) in length and 65 feet (19.8 meters) in width, sources say. Workers had to labor for several weeks before they managed to remove it from the area.
They had to use an excavator to pull chunks of the tar mat out of the beach.
Since the Deepwater Horizon spill until present-day, BP has reportedly recovered 2.7 million pounds (1,350 tons) of waste from the waters off Louisiana's coast.
The company is still carrying out cleaning activities in the area, yet the discovery of this tar mat is said to be proof that BP workers are not doing such a good job.
What's more, some people are now starting to question whether or not cleaning operations in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi have been, in fact, successfully completed.
“A twenty-ton tar mat on Grand Terre is a vivid reminder that the effects of the 2010 Gulf oil disaster are far from over, despite BP’s glossy ad campaigns saying otherwise. It is time for BP to be held accountable for its lasting damages to Gulf ecosystems, economies and communities.
“This tar mat is but the latest reminder of the massive amounts of remaining oil and the ongoing need for restoration. We cannot let BP off the hook when we are continuing to see new evidence of damage to our ecosystem and economy from its oil,” reads a statement issued by the Environmental Defense Fund this June 26.