Top 10 Reasons to Remember the BP Gulf Oil Disaster

1. BP is gunning to get back to drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

2. People are sick. Of the 954 residents polled this year in seven coastal communities, almost half said they had experienced health problems like coughing, skin and eye irritation, or headaches that are consistent with common symptoms of chemical exposure. 

3. Fish and other sea life in the Gulf are still struggling after the disaster. The death toll for dolphins and whales in the Gulf may have been 50 times higher than the number of bodies found, according to a recent paper in Conservation Letters. Earlier this year, a large number of dead dolphin calves were found on the coast, and scientists have linked many of those deaths to the oil disaster. Anglers are also reporting dark lesions, rotting fins, and discoloration in the fish they're catching in the Gulf, as the St. Petersburg Times reported last week.

4. BP got a $10 billion (yes with a B) tax credit for its cleanup costs while those most affected by the spill are still waiting for payments.
5. Congress hasn't changed a single law on oil and gas drilling in the past year.
6. GOP House members want more drilling off all our coasts with less environmental review.
7. "Fail safe" technology isn't fail safe.

See "Blowout preventers used in ALL deep water drilling are "fundamentally flawed by design" — Maddow."

8. The country's offshore regulator has a new name, but it's still got plenty of problems.
9. Fewer than half of people who have filed claims from the spill have been paid.
10. BP still doesn't want you to see its tar balls.



That's the start of a long list by Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones.
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