In 2004, Hurricane Ivan created mudslides in Louisiana that caused an oil production platform owned by Taylor Energy to sink. Because of this, 300-700 barrels of oil have been flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every day since then. According to The Washington Post, the oil has been leaking from wells for 14 years and could surpass the BP oil spill as the worst offshore disaster in United States history. 

Taylor Energy originally reported the oil spill to the United States Coast Guard in 2008 — 4 years after the spill had started. The Coast Guard described the spill as “A continuous crude oil discharge that posed a significant threat to the environment.” Taylor Energy had managed to keep the spill a secret from the public until the Louisiana Environmental Action Network found their oil in 2010 when monitoring BP’s spill. Taylor Energy denies that there is any evidence that an oil spill is still happening.