15 years after Deepwater Horizon oil spill, lawsuits stall and restoration is incomplete

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Fifteen years after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off the Gulf Coast, killing 11 and sending 134 million gallons (500 million liters) of crude gushing into the ocean, the effects of the nation's worst offshore oil spill are still being felt.

Oil company BP paid billions of dollars in damages, propelling ambitious coastal restoration projects across five states. Yet cleanup workers and local residents who suffered health impacts they attribute to the oil spill have struggled to have their cases heard in court and few have received significant compensation.

Conservation groups say the spill catalyzed innovative restoration work across the Gulf Coast, but are alarmed at the recent halt of a flagship land-creation project in Louisiana. As the Trump administration expands offshore oil and gas, they are concerned the best opportunities for rebuilding the Gulf Coast are slipping away.

In the coastal community of Lafitte in southeast Louisiana, Tammy Gremillion is celebrating Easter Sunday, the anniversary of the April 20 spill, without her daughter. She remembers warning Jennifer against joining a cleanup crew tasked with containing the spill for BP.

"But I couldn’t stop her — they were offering these kids lots of money,” Gremillion said. “They didn’t know the dangers. They didn’t do what they should have to protect these young people.”

Jennifer worked knee-deep in oil for months, returning home reeking of fumes, covered in black splotches and breaking out in rashes and suffering headaches. She also was exposed to Corexit, an EPA-approved chemical applied on and below the water to disperse oil, which has been linked to health problems.

In 2020, Jennifer died of leukemia, a blood cancer that can be caused by exposure to oil.

Gremillion, who broke down in tears as she recounted her daughter's death, is “1,000% confident” that exposure to toxins during the cleanup caused the cancer.

She filed a lawsuit against BP in 2022, although the allegations have been difficult to establish in court. Gremillion's suit is one of a small number of cases still pending.

An investigation by The Associated Press previously found all but a handful of roughly 4,800 lawsuits seeking compensation for health problems linked to the oil spill have been dismissed and only one has been settled.

In a 2012 settlement, BP paid ill workers and coastal residents $67 million, but this amounted to no more than $1,300 each for nearly 80% of those seeking compensation.

Attorneys from the Downs Law Group, representing Gremillion and around 100 others in cases against BP, say the company leveraged procedural technicalities to block victims from getting their day in court.

BP declined to comment on pending litigation. In court filings, BP denied allegations that oil exposure caused health problems and attacked the credibility of medical experts brought by plaintiffs.

The environmental impact was devastating, recalled PJ Hahn, who served on the frontlines as a southeast Louisiana coastal management official. He watched the oil eat away at barrier islands and marsh around his community in Plaquemines Parish until “it would just crumble like a cookie in hot coffee, just break apart.”

Oyster beds suffocated, reefs were blanketed in chemicals and the fishing industry tanked. Pelicans diving for dead fish emerged from the contaminated waters smeared in a black sheen. Tens of thousands of seabirds and sea turtles were killed, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Since then, “significant progress” has been made restoring Gulf habitats and ecosystems, according to The​ Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustee Council, a group of state and federal agencies tasked with managing restoration funded by penalties levied against BP.

The council says more than 300 restoration projects worth $5.38 billion have been approved in the Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump renamed the Gulf of America. The projects include acquiring wetlands in Mississippi to protect nesting areas for birds, rebuilding reefs along Pensacola Bay in Florida and restoring around 4 square miles (11 square kilometers) of marsh in Lake Borgne near New Orleans.

While a tragedy, the spill "galvanized a movement — one that continues to push for a healthier, more resilient coast,” said Simone Maloz, campaign director for Restore the Mississippi River Delta, a conservation coalition.

The influx of billions of dollars in penalties paid by BP "allowed us to think bigger, act faster and rely on science to guide large-scale solutions,” she added.

Yet what many conservationists see as the flagship of the restoration projects funded by the Deepwater Horizon disaster payout — an approximately $3 billion effort to divert sediment from the Mississippi River to rebuild 21 square miles (54 square kilometers) of land in southeast Louisiana — has stalled over concerns of its impact on the livelihoods of local communities and dolphin populations.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has said the project would “break our culture" by harming local oyster and shrimp fisheries due to the influx of freshwater. Earlier this month, his administration paused the project for 90 days, citing its high costs, and its future remains uncertain.

The Trump administration is seeking to sell more offshore oil and gas leases, which the industry trade group American Petroleum Institute called “a big step forward for American energy dominance.”

BP announced an oil discovery in the Gulf last week and plans more than 40 new wells in the next three years. The company told the AP it has improved safety standards and oversight.

“We remain keenly aware that we must always put safety first,” BP said in an emailed statement. “We have made many changes so that such an event should never happen again."

Still, Joseph Gordon, climate and energy director for the nonprofit Oceana, warned Deepwater Horizon's legacy should be “an alarm bell” against the expansion of offshore drilling.

Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96.

FILE - Crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill washes ashore in Orange Beach, Ala., on June 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)

FILE - The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns in the Gulf of Mexico on April 21, 2010, following an explosion that killed 11 workers and caused the worst offshore oil spill in the nation's history. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - A worker uses a suction hose to remove oil washed ashore from the Deepwater Horizon spill, in Belle Terre, La., June 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

FILE - A worker shovels oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill off Fourchon Beach in Port Fourchon, La., May 24, 2010. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

FILE - Crude oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill floats on the water with clouds reflected in the sheen on Barataria Bay off the coast of Louisiana on June, 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - Oil floats in the waters of Chandeleur Sound, La., on May 4, 2010, two weeks after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

FILE - A bird is mired in oil on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast on June 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - A brown pelican covered in oil tries to raise its wings on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast on June 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - A small dead fish floats on a pool of oil at Bay Long, off the coast of Louisiana, on June 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

FILE - An oil-soaked bird struggles against the oil-slicked side of the HOS Iron Horse supply vessel at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana, on May 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - Shrimp boats are used to collect oil with booms in the waters of Chandeleur Sound, La., May 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

FILE- A worker picks up blobs of oil with absorbent snare on Queen Bess Island at the mouth of Barataria Bay near the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, La., on June 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - In this April 21, 2010 file photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, fire boat response crews spray water on the burning BP Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig. (U.S. Coast Guard via AP, File)

FILE - Oil leaks in the Gulf of Mexico southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, as the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns on April 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - A plume of smoke rises from fires on BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump had another medical exam on Tuesday, putting his health under renewed public scrutiny as he has worked to dismiss concerns over his age and stamina.

The 79-year-old president spent more than three hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for what the White House described as preventive medical and dental checkups. It was Trump's fourth publicly disclosed medical exam since he returned to office for a second term, and it comes as he tries to project strength ahead of midterm elections that will test his sway with voters.

In a social media post after the visit, Trump said that he had just finished his “6 month physical” and that “Everything checked out PERFECTLY.”

For decades, administrations have released selected results from presidential physicals, offering the public a glimpse at the commander-in-chief’s health. But the results are filtered through the White House and must be approved by the president, raising questions about what the public does and doesn't get to see.

Trump, a Republican, turns 80 next month and was the oldest person elected U.S. president. His immediate predecessor, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, was 82 when he left office, dropping out of the 2024 presidential race because of widespread concerns he was too old for the job.

A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted in April found that less than half of U.S. adults think Trump has the mental sharpness or physical health to serve effectively as president.

“I think concern for the president’s physical health is probably at an all-time high, and I think advanced physical age is the No. 1 concern,” said Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who served as a White House physician for more than a decade under Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

For a president of Trump’s age, a complete physical would be expected to include advanced heart testing, screening for common cancers and a cognitive assessment, along with basics like height, weight and blood pressure, Kuhlman said.

The White House has not disclosed what the visit entailed but expressed confidence in what it will show.

“President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and he remains in excellent health,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement.

In the weeks leading up to his visit, Trump has been saying he feels as good as he did five decades ago — even as he jokes about his fondness for fast food and his minimal exercise regimen. Yet he’s also sensitive to perceptions about his age, noting that he takes extra caution descending the steps from Air Force One to avoid headlines about a stumble.

There is no law requiring presidents to publicize their health records, and the degree of transparency has varied by administration. Trump’s past reports have been criticized for offering scant detail and providing statistics that some medical experts eyed with skepticism.

At public appearances, Trump is often seen wearing makeup to conceal bruising on his hands, which the White House attributes to handshaking and regular aspirin use. He has sometimes appeared drowsy during meetings and closed his eyes for long stretches, though he denies having fallen asleep.

Trump often boasts of having “aced” cognitive tests while frequently deriding Biden, who faced questions about his mental acuity. Biden and his aides pushed back aggressively against doubts raised about his fitness for office.

Some of Trump’s previous physicals have included the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, used to screen for dementia and cognitive impairment. His physicians reported a score of 30 out of 30 for him at 2018 and 2025 checkups.

Yet critics have pointed to Trump’s meandering speeches and sometimes bellicose rhetoric as evidence of cognitive decline.

Last month, a statement from more than 30 neurologists, psychiatrists and other medical experts — who acknowledged they’ve never examined him — said Trump was mentally unfit to serve and warned of an “increasingly dangerous decline” in his behavior based on what they called “objectively observable signs of serious medical concern.″

“Any so-called medical professionals engaging in armchair diagnosis or false speculation for political purposes are clearly breaking the Hippocratic Oath they’ve sworn to,” Ingle said.

Just like any other patient, presidents get to choose what’s disclosed about their health, said Sara Rosenthal, a bioethicist at the University of Kentucky who studies presidential health. Questions about transparency have become more acute as America elects aging presidents like Trump and Biden, she said.

“I think we can expect very little disclosure about the true health status of any president unless they’re in perfect health,” said Rosenthal, who has suggested an independent medical organization to review and report on the health of the president and those in the line of succession.

Trump's first medical report in his second term was released last April. In July, he was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition in older adults that causes blood to pool in his veins. Photographs have shown the president with swollen feet, ankles and calves, described by the White House as a symptom of chronic venous insufficiency leading to “mild swelling” in his lower legs.

Following his last publicly disclosed exam, described as a routine follow-up last October, Trump’s physician issued a one-page summary saying the president was in “exceptional health” without divulging many specific results.

The frequency of Trump's medical checkups is not uncommon for someone his age, according to S. Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois-Chicago, who has studied the health of past presidents. It's part of a strategy to catch problems while they’re still treatable, Olshansky said.

Olshansky says the public deserves to see more than White House medical summaries that “may be subject to editorial discretion.” Full, unredacted medical records should be made public, he said: “Nothing should be hidden.”

President Donald Trump departs Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - The left foot and swollen ankle of President Donald Trump are pictured as he sits with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa in the Oval Office of the White House, July 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump's right hand is seen as he speaks to the press after returning and stepping off Air Force One, Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., after speaking at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy commencement. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Donald Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)

CORRECTS DATE - President Donald Trump sits at the back of the presidential limousine as it drives outside the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center from the White House, Tuesday, May 26, 2026 in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)