Dear John,

Eleven years ago today, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, spewing vast quantities of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. By the time the well was finally plugged 87 days later, 130 million gallons of oil had already gushed into the ocean. Eleven workers lost their lives, along with untold millions of wildlife from marine mammals, to birds, to sea turtles. To this day, this catastrophe remains the largest offshore oil spill ever — one of the worst environmental disasters in history.

Though the disaster has now subsided, the severe damage to Gulf’s communities, ecosystems and wildlife continues to have lasting impacts. Our best hope now is the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion — a project in the Mississippi River Delta that would be the largest eco-restoration effort in U.S. history.

Take action for the future of our coastal communities and ecosystems: Send a public comment to the Army Corps of Engineers in support of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion.

For thousands of years, Louisiana’s wetlands naturally shielded local communities from harsh storms and served as a home to a diverse abundance of wildlife. But nearly a century ago, levees were built on the Mississippi River to accommodate commercial interests and development. Just like that, the natural processes that had built the wetlands in the first place came to a sudden stop. 

And when the BP oil disaster happened, it only accelerated the pace of destruction. The massive death of the region’s vegetation crippled the wetlands’ last line of defense — the roots that held the land in place and slowed the rate of erosion. Today, a football field’s worth of wetlands vanishes into the sea every 100 minutes, destroying crucial wildlife habitat and leaving communities vulnerable to storms and sea level rise. 

The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore the natural processes that originally built the wetlands, using the funds from the BP oil spill settlement. Decades of solid science have proven that this is our best shot. And with the threat of increasingly severe storms on the horizon, we need natural safeguards for the region’s communities and wildlife more than ever. Today, as we reflect on the tragedy that occurred eleven years ago, we must advance bold actions that restore nature-based solutions that will protect our communities and ecosystems from the consequences of climate change.

Tell the Army Corps of Engineers and Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group today: Use the BP oil spill settlement dollars to restore the Barataria Basin’s beautiful wetlands —  and protect the future of our coastal communities and ecosystems.

Thank you for standing with us,

Steve Cochran
Associate Vice President, Coastal Resilience