Powering a Nation

A Project of the UNC School of Media and Journalism

ON THE EDGE: Spilling Over

BY JESSEY DEARING, LAUREN FROHNE, ELENA RUE and MIKE EHRLICH

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. A deluge of oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico for more than three months while residents of the small fishing town of Venice watched their livelihoods slip away. Plagued by uncertainty, potential health risks, financial stress, and fears that the fishing industry would forever be destroyed, families were left with a difficult choice: Do they stay and hope that everything will be restored? Or do they give up their jobs, their community, their heritage, and even their families, in an effort to flee the lasting effects of the oil spill?

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