Caleb Breaux and Donald Dumas are among tens of thousands of Gulf Coast residents who took jobs cleaning up BP’s oil spill in 2010, the worst offshore environmental disaster in U.S. history. Breaux, 42, of Lockport, is a horticulturalist when the BP spill started drifting into the Louisiana marsh. Dumas, 66, of Pensacola, Fla., was unemployed when he got the opportunity to work cleanup duty in the worst disaster in U.S. history. But wound up getting sick from touching/breathing in oil and chemicals. Both were excluded from a 2012 settlement designed to pay cleanup workers for medical conditions. While tens of thousands received compensation for financial losses, many who had contact with the oil spill are still waiting or being turned away. None have persuaded a federal court to hold a trial on the merits of medical claims. There is some hope for plaintiffs like Breaux - with cancer claims. Miami attorney Craig Downs keeps 130,000 samples of oiled material collected and has a science team running toxicological tests. Recent scientific studies have reported higher risks of long-term neurological/cardiovascular conditions among thousands of Coast Guard members who responded to the BP spill. “We believe it's going to be a good year," Downs said, "and we're going to turn the tide on the science.” (NOLA.com 02/10/23) BP spill workers still seeking compensation for medical woes | Environment | nola.com
