A federal magistrate judge has rejected a company’s bid to preserve the confidentiality of numerous emails and reports about its failed efforts to halt a decade-old Gulf of Mexico oil leak.
The documents could be evidence in a lawsuit that environmental groups filed against Taylor Energy Co., which owned a platform that toppled during Hurricane Ivan in 2004. An Associated Press investigation recently revealed evidence that the leak at the site of the toppled platform is worse than Taylor or government regulators had publicly reported.
The AP reports U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Wells Roby rejected arguments today by Taylor lawyers who said the documents contain valuable trade secrets. Taylor can ask a district judge to review the judge’s ruling. The AP has filed a public records request for some of the same confidential records.
The AP recently reported the oil leak could continue spilling crude into the Gulf of Mexico for a century or more if left unchecked, according to government estimates.
Taylor Energy Co., which owned the platform and a cluster of oil wells, has downplayed the extent and environmental impact of the leak. The company also maintains that nothing can be done to completely eliminate the chronic oil slicks that often stretch for miles off the coast of Louisiana.
Taylor has tried to broker a deal with the government to resolve its financial obligations for the leak, but authorities have rebuffed those overtures and have ordered additional work by the company, according to Justice Department officials.
