1. United States
2. N.J.
3. Letter

Challenging BP’s massive new oil operation in the Gulf of Mexico What happened: The Trump administration approved BP’s “Kaskida,” an ultra-deepwater oil drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico. This is BP’s first completely new oilfield in the Gulf since the company’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the worst in U.S. history. Only BP’s proposal was full of red flags: legally required information was either inaccurate or missing entirely. Its approval sets a dangerously low bar for oil and gas companies that want to drill in our public waters. What we did: We sued the Trump administration on behalf of a coalition of Gulf and environmental groups. Our lawsuit was filed on the 16th anniversary of Deepwater Horizon. Why it matters: The Kaskida project has the potential to spill up to 4.5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf — and it could take up to 100 days to control a potential spill. Furthermore, the 80,000 barrels of oil per day BP says Kaskida would pump out would saddle Gulf communities with even more refinery pollution, threatening public health.