RP190 Danger in the Sea

 RP190 Danger in the Sea

It was the worst environmental disaster in American history. Here's how the BP (British Petroleum) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010 happened.

1. The government wasn't watching. Wouldn't it be great if you could make up the rules for every game you played? That's basically what BP was allowed to do. The US government generally let BP regulate itself. No one was around to tell the company no or force it to maintain safety standards.

2. The offshore oil rig involved in the spill was sealing the well it had drilled. Workers tested the seal once, but didn't do any other more expensive safety tests to be absolutely sure the seal worked.

3. As we later learned, the cement used for the well was not allowed enough time to set. BP knew this, but believed it could be strengthened later.

4. A gas bubble escaped from the badly sealed well. The gas rose through the pipe and reached the air at the oil rig, where it exploded. Eleven workers were killed. The rig burned and slowly sank.

5. A blowout preventer should have come on to seal the well automatically. It didn't. The well pipe had been knocked out of place by the explosion. That kept the blowout preventer from sealing the well as it should have.

6. BP, rushing to fix the well, accidentally opened a bigger hole, and the oil started gushing. By some estimates, 205.8 million gallons spilled into the gulf in 87 days. However, a judge later ruled that BP was only responsible for about 130 million gallons. Livelihoods were destroyed. Countless animals and plants were killed. The effects of the oil on the surface and floor of the ocean will continue for decades. A study presented in April 2017 showed that the oil spill had caused US$17.2 billion in damage to the Gulf of Mexico's natural resources.