Oil spill off Louisiana's Gulf Coast raises alarm as DOGE cuts may threaten response efforts
Source: CBS News
Updated on: May 2, 2025 / 8:15 PM EDT
Former federal disaster response specialists and national environmental groups warn that DOGE job cuts may hamper the response to a major oil spill off Louisiana's Gulf Coast this week, a leak that is fast contaminating marshlands and threatening vital wildlife habitats and fisheries.
Although the amount of crude oil currently leaking out of the well is not yet known, a report from the U.S. Coast Guard's National Response Center earlier this week said "the amount discharged could potentially reach the threshold of a major spill for coastal waters (over 100,000 gallons)." The leak was first reported on Friday, April 26, as a "well blowout." The cause is not yet known.
On Thursday, the Coast Guard reported more than 30,000 gallons of an "oily watery mixture" had been collected from the spill site, and while more than two miles of booms had already been deployed, crews were waiting for more containment materials to arrive.
More than 1,000 employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were laid off or have taken early retirement in recent days. That is in addition to around 1,000 that were cut earlier this year, according to sources familiar with the reduction in forces. This week eight of 28 staff members from NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration Emergency Response Division — the very team tasked with addressing the oil spill — left the agency.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oil-spill-louisiana-gulf-coast-doge-cuts/
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but the Speaker of the House!
