The Great Disaster in the Gulf

On April 20, 2010, an ultra-deepwater oil rig operated by British Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico, roughly forty miles off the coast of Louisiana, exploded and caught fire, killing eleven workers. Two days later the oil rig sank, following a second explosion. On April 24, officials determined that oil was leaking from two separate holes in a drilling pipe almost one mile below the surface. By the end of the next week, the oil spill was over one hundred miles across, and a state of emergency was called by the Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal.

Despite efforts to contain the leak, over two hundred thousand gallons of oil a day have continued to leak into the gulf. By the third week of May, scientists reported that the leak had made its way into a strong loop current in the Gulf of Mexico, which would likely take the oil to Florida, and the east coast. To date, close to eight hundred thousand feet of floating barriers have been placed throughout the gulf in an effort to contain the oil and protect coastlines.

On June 16, 2010, British Petroleum offered an apology to the United States, and agreed to pay twenty billion dollars over the next five years, more if necessary, to compensate for losses due to the oil spill, and to cover cleanup and other fines.