On April 20, 2010, an explosion tore apart the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which was digging an exploratory well in the Macondo oil and gas prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. The explosion killed 11 workers, injured 17 more and led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
The January report from the president’s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling paints a troubling picture of the missteps, oversights and institutional flaws that led to the disaster–an overarching culture of lax safety measures in the oil and gas industry, and management and regulatory failures that led to cut corners and a lack of vigilance and preparedness.
