BP defeated thousands of suits by sick Gulf spill cleanup workers. But not one by a boat captain
John Maas spent years buying and outfitting a 17-foot aluminum boat called the Superskiff 1 so he could take customers fishing for sea trout and flounder in the Gulf of Mexico.
But before the Mississippi captain could make his first charter trip in 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up 120 miles (193 kilometers) to the south, killing 11 people and sending many millions of gallons of oil into the sea.
As for many along the Gulf coast, the disaster changed Maas’ life. Fishing stopped when oil contaminated the water, so he used his boat to help clean up the spill. It was nasty work under oppressive, humid heat in oily water and around the chemical dispersant Corexit deployed in massive quantities to break up oil.
Maas said the Corexit smelled like burning brake fluid and caused his eyes to water and skin to burn. “You were coughing and things like that. It’s like tear gas almost,” he said in an interview.
Related articles
Pope trip to Luxembourg, Belgium confirmed for September, 2 weeks after challenging Asia visit
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has added a stop in Luxembourg to a trip to Belgium in September, a three-d2024-05-21Only 35 Nanjing Massacre survivors remain
Liu Suzhen, one of the Nanjing Massacre survivors, passed away on Sunday at the age of 93, reducing2024-05-21US returns 38 pieces of cultural objects to China
China's Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism and head of the National Cultural Heritage Admini2024-05-214th Int'l garden festival kicks off in Beijing
Flowers in bloom at Beijing Expo Park. [photo provided to China.org.cn]The 4th Beijing International2024-05-21Farm family’s newest crop shows China’s solar ascendancy
JINAN, China (AP) — Shi Mei and her husband earn a decent enough living by growing corn and millet o2024-05-21Video reviews have changed the face of European soccer. One country is holding out
STOCKHOLM (AP) — As the Swedish league got underway this spring, yellow-and-black-clad supporters of2024-05-21
atest comment