Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force is the organization created by President Barack Obama to recover from the 2010 BP "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill and preserve the ecosystem of the Gulf Coast of the United States. On April 20, 2010 the United States watched as over 200 million gallons of crude oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico from the 2010 BP "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill. For three months various efforts were taken to cap the broken well and were finally successful on September 19, 2010. In the aftermath of this disaster the
Gulf of Mexico BP reached an $18.7bn settlement with the US government, the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, as well as 400 local authorities. To date BP's cost for the clean-up, environmental and economic damages and penalties has reached $54bn. According to the National Response Center, the oil industry has thousands of minor accidents in the Gulf of Mexico every year. On May 12, 2016, a release of oil from subsea infrastructure on Shell's "Brutus" oil rig released 2,100 barrels of oil. This leak created a visible 2 mile by 13 mile oil slick in the sea about 97 miles