Today marks the three-year anniversary of the BP oil spill. Some of the oil that spilled off the Louisiana coast remains in plain view.
Two hundred miles of Louisiana coastline remains oiled. Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said outside the BP federal civil trial in New Orleans this week that the company still needs to pay for long-term clean-up.
“Of course the oil is not as thick as it was at one time, but it’s still there.”
Fisherman George Barisich says he’s worried about colleagues who took early damage payments from the oil company before knowing how the Gulf recovers.
“It is damaged. To what extent and where, nobody can tell you. So this is a wait and see.”
Testimony has wrapped up in the first phase of the trial. The US District Court will decide if the spill was caused by gross negligence. The phase to determine how much oil spilled and how thoroughly it was contained is set to start in September.
