A spokesperson for BP says the tragedy of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill was covered in great depth, but media have underreported the resilience the Gulf Coast has shown the last four years, and BP's role in its recovery.
Geoff Morrell is Senior Vice President for US Communications at BP. He addressed a few hundred reporters in New Orleans for the international Society of Environmental Journalists conference. Morrell defended BP’s record since the oil spill.
"We remain committed to restoring those natural resources that reliable data and science determine the spill injured," he said. "But we should not be accountable for damages caused by acts of others, or those conjured up by opportunistic advocacy groups, and certainly not those that stem from problems that plagued the Gulf for decades."
In a Q & A after his remarks, journalists pressed Morrell. They asked about BP’s commitments to renewable energy, a study that suggested spilled oil dangerously enlarged the hearts of tuna, and on BP ending its official constant beach cleanup, while oil continues to appear on shore.