WEEKS ISLAND – A month after an oil spill in coastal Iberia Parish, the little island at the edge of Vermilion Bay looks bleak. Footsteps churn up oil mixed with mud and ash. A rainbow sheen spreads across puddles beneath empty duck blinds and stains the dozen white, donut-shaped absorbent pads left behind to soak up the mess.

Wild swamp rabbits hop through the scrub, past branches turned Halloween orange by oxidized oil. A light rain washes the contamination toward a channel that drains into the bay, where snaking oil booms aim to hold it back.

The leak – significant, yet small by Louisiana standards – has highlighted concerns about the state’s response to such leaks under the Trump administration and Gov. Jeff Landry.

Landry has overseen the reorganization of various state agencies, including last year’s transfer of the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office (LOSCO), previously under the Department of Environmental Quality, to the state Department of Energy and Natural Resources. The governor’s choice to lead LDENR, Tyler Gray, was previously director of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, a 102-year-old industry group.

While the Trump administration seeks to roll back regulations around oil and gas infrastructure, some are worried it will reduce Louisiana’s already insufficient spill response.

“I’ve been flying there for years, and I’ve never seen that much oil spilled at that site,” said David Levy, an Iberia Parish resident who first noticed the Weeks Island spill from his personal aircraft. From 2021-23, he was a member of the Oilfield Site Restoration Commission, a 10-member panel of governor’s appointees that oversees and prioritizes the state’s work to clean and clear old drilling locations.

The spill occurred on in an area of the island ringed with oil wells and boreholes that surround the Morton Salt mine. The Texas Petroleum Investment Co. first reported the spill to the U.S. Coast Guard on March 2, saying it was the result of a leak in a saltwater injection liner used to keep corrosive fluids away from one of its boreholes. Three barrels of crude oil had been spilled, according to the Coast Guard report, though Levy estimates it was four or five.

Even five barrels, or 200 gallons of oil, is not a hugely notable spill in Louisiana, which sees large leaks regularly. But it is still significant. Anything over 5 gallons must be reported to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

On April 1, a month after the spill occurred, oil was still visible at the site. It shimmered atop the water in the tidal marsh alongside the Intracoastal Waterway. The oil was mixed with charred material from a controlled burn apparently conducted as part of the cleanup. Among blooming purple thistle, contractors left behind two propane-fueled devices for incinerating the oil. Past the shoreline, crabbers headed for Vermilion Bay.

The Weeks Island site is among nine areas in coastal Iberia and Vermilion parishes the LDEQ has deemed “sensitive sites.”

This is not the first time Texas Petroleum Investment Co. polluted the area through improper operations. The EPA fined the company $599,700 last year for unauthorized emissions and Clean Air Act violations at Weeks Island.

The problem this time, Levy said, is that spill response workers “went out there, threw some absorbent pads around and did nothing.”

The insufficient cleanup is reflective of a decline in enforcement around spills and leaks, according to Levy.

“Christ, they should’ve gotten vacuum boats or something to go pick the oil up,” he said. “They’re waiting for the rainwater to wash it into Vermilion Bay,” a popular spot for fishing and crabbing.

Several crabbers working at the marina closest to the spill said they sometimes see oil in the water. They worry about it affecting their catch but said they don’t know who to call about a spill if they wanted to report it.

Even if the fishers did report leaks, it wouldn’t make a difference, Levy said.

“I don’t report anymore,” he said. “There’s no point.”

How spills are reported

Typically, when an oil spill occurs in Louisiana, the entity that caused or noticed the spill must notify the Coast Guard and Louisiana State Police. The troopers’ Hazardous Materials Unit then relays the information to LOSCO, which coordinates local response efforts with other state and federal agencies.

The party found responsible for a spill has to pay for its cleanup and any mitigation to contain damages. They can theoretically face fines from the EPA or the state. In Louisiana, however, those fines are rarely enforced.

The LDEQ, which works with State Police and the Coast Guard on frontline response, has seen major upheaval since Landry took office. The governor appointed former Trump administration official Aurelia Giacometto as LDEQ secretary. Multiple senior staffers have left amid a wave of resignations, while employees in a recent survey reported poor morale and a toxic work environment. The complaints included being forced to disregard regulations.

Scott Eustis, a policy director with nonprofit Healthy Gulf, also worries about LDEQ’s history of lax enforcement. He pointed to the agency’s opposition to a 2023 air monitoring bill in the state legislature and its failure to address a noxious-smelling orphan well in Plaquemines Parish. Emissions from the well set off Healthy Gulf’s meter that measures explosive gases in the air, he said

Meanwhile, the state Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office has its own staffing issues. According to an LDENR budget request document, eight of the office’s 21 permanent positions were vacant as of October. LDENR spokesman Patrick Courreges confirmed those positions were open before the request was made – and remain unfilled.

More reorganization at LDENR will likely occur later this year, Courreges said. The changes are intended to make it easier for workers to collaborate, and the agency will use more technology to address spills. For example, the department has a Strategic Online Natural Resources Information System (SONRIS) that shows well locations but was “never really leveraged as a tool to improve enforcement,” according to Courreges.

President Trump, meanwhile, has aimed to roll back regulations and permitting rules in order to hasten pipeline construction. On his first day in office, he issued an executive order that called for “unleashing energy dominance.” It asked directors of his National Economic Council and the White House Office of Legislative Affairs to prepare recommendations to Congress that would facilitate the construction of energy infrastructure like pipelines.

Underreported and understaffed

There are about 1,000 oil spills in Louisiana each year, more than any other state, according to a 2019 analysis from ProPublica, The Advocate and The Times-Picayune. There’s also a backlog of at least 18 significant spills from before Katrina that still have outstanding natural resource damage assessments.

LOSCO’s online spill database shows only five incidents this year, including two attributed to the Texas Petroleum Investment Co (TPIC). The online database is not comprehensive, however. Public records Healthy Gulf obtained and shared with the Illuminator show 48 spills through March 1. The most recent spill, also by TPIC, occurred Feb. 21 in Plaquemines Parish.

According to Healthy Gulf’s review of those records, less than 4% of spills reported to LOSCO receive natural resource damage assessments. Of the 3,600 spills reported since 1992, TPIC and another company, HillCorp, are responsible for the largest number of the significant spills, per Healthy Gulf.

TPIC did not respond to a request for comment on this report.

Courreges said LOSCO did respond to the Weeks Island spill, but “we just don’t have the kind of staff” needed to update the website.

Eustis said LOSCO is already “bare bones,” and Louisiana officials haven’t taken steps to bolster its efforts. For example, the state has not followed a recommendation regulatory consultant Dwight Dunk made after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill regarding consistent fines for smaller spills. The legislature would have to put such fines in place.

Eustis also worries Landry will follow in the footsteps of former Gov. Bobby Jindal, who laid off thousands of state employees during his tenure. Those could potentially include personnel who monitor and respond to oil spills.

“My fear about the reorganization is that’s going to happen again, even though we have such a backlog of damage assessment and a steady occurrence of new oil spills,” Eustis said.