On April 20, 2010, a dragon’s belch of methane gas, referred to as a ‘kick’, sparked the explosion on the BP oil rig Deepwater Horizon that was drilling a mile-deep well off the coast of Louisiana. Eleven people, and thousands of animals, died as a result of the disaster.
More than four million barrels (one hundred and sixty-eight million gallons) of oil was disgorged into the ocean in the next three and a half months. The disaster crippled the economies of Mississippi, Florida, Alabama and — in particular —Louisiana.
One year later, things appear much better on the surface, but researchers have found dead zones in fragile, deep sea coral. The oil from humanity’s largest spill into the ocean still saturates some wetlands, has contaminated the ocean ecosystem, and continues to endanger wildlife.
BP is publicly optimistic about the Gulf Coast’s recovery, but it may be decades before the full impact of the disaster is known.
db johnston
almost falling 