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S u n d ay, a p r i l 20, 2025
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BP oil spill effects still being revealed Deepwater Horizon disaster sparked 15 years of intense research
BY MIKE SMITH | Staff writer
CELEBRATING THE LIGHT OF CHRIST ABOVE: Bishop Michael G. Duca walks with his candle to share the light with parishioners during Easter Vigil Mass at St. Joseph Cathedral on Holy Saturday. The Easter Vigil service symbolizes the triumph of Christ’s resurrection over death and the dawn of a new era of hope and salvation. RIGHT: Miranda Gendron holds her son, Rocco, as he lights his candle from his brother Samuel’s flame during the Mass.
Out on the edge of Louisiana’s coast, a set of giant plant pots stand as reminders of the worst-ever oil spill of its kind. But you couldn’t tell just by looking at them. The rows of containers sit under a wood frame and netting. Inside grows the same cordgrass that carpets the marshes stretching out within eyesight of this spot, in the tiny community of Cocodrie. It’s all part of an elaborate experiment continuing to reveal some effects of the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. “There are a lot of lessons learned that will come from this,” said Brian Roberts, referencing the range of research that the spill prompted. He conceived the cordgrass experiment with colleagues. “It hopefully will help us better prepare in the event that something else happens,” added Roberts, the executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, as he walked elevated planks among the fiberglass containers. April 20 marks the 15th anniversary of the blowout and subsequent spill at the Macondo well off the Mississippi River’s mouth in the Gulf. The Deepwater Horizon rig, owned by Transocean and operated by BP, blew up,
ä See DEEPWATER, page 8A
STAFF PHOTOS By JAVIER GALLEGOS
12-story BR tower may become historic landmark Owner plans affordable housing for seniors
Baton Rouge structure on the National Register of Historic Places — and it could be developed for affordable senior housing. The historic designation, ofBY HALEY MILLER | Staff writer ficially recommended in April by the Louisiana National RegThe former Capital Bank ister Review Committee, is the building near Lobdell Boule- first step in what the owner vard may soon be the newest hopes is the transformation of
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the vacant 12-story office tower. Michael Tubre, vice president of TKTMJ Inc., said he was drawn to the site because of the possibility to combine historic tax credits with lowincome housing tax credits. “Our intent is for seniors 62 and older,” Tubre said. “There’s a continuing, growing need from the baby boomer generation.”
To qualify for the register, a building must be at least 50 years old and meet one or more criteria: have association with a historic event or individual, contain archaeological potential or embody the characteristics of an era. Wooddale Tower, constructed in 1969 and
ä See TOWER, page 9A
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happy froom Thee Baton Rouge Clinnicc
STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL DeMOCKER
Fireboats try to extinguish the blaze on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that was drilling BP’s Macondo well south of Venice on April 21, 2010, after an explosion the day before left 11 workers dead and 17 injured. Oil gushed into the Gulf for 87 days as attempts to cap the well failed. In the end, an estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude oil spilled.
100TH yEAR, NO. 294