In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Since then, the Trump administration has weakened safety and environmental regulations and is pushing for more drilling.
Ten years after the explosion on the "Deepwater Horizon" oil rig, the US is still not adequately prepared for a possible oil spill on a similar scale, according to a media report.
The "New York Times" reported at the weekend, citing the members of the commission that had been set up at the time to prevent such a disaster from happening again.
All seven then-members of the panel said their suggestions were never taken seriously. They agree that the US is only marginally better prepared than it was ten years ago.
Serious oil spill in the USA
An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010 triggered the worst oil disaster in US history to date.
Eleven workers were killed in the accident. 780 million liters of oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill spread over 149,000 square kilometers of sea surface – more than twice the area of Bavaria.
In a settlement with the US government in 2015, the British energy company BP agreed to pay 20.8 billion dollars (then 18.5 billion euros) for the consequences.
Trump administration endangers the environment?
The commission set up by then US President Barack Obama presented its final report in 2011. The New York Times reported that in lengthy interviews this month every member of the commission accused the administration of US President Donald Trump of endangering American waters, coasts and wildlife.
The reason for this is that the government has weakened safety and environmental regulations and at the same time is pushing for oil drilling to be expanded in almost all US waters. The commission members have accused the US Congress of failing to implement almost all of their security proposals.
Trump does not share the opinion
The newspaper reported that representatives from the oil industry and the Trump administration disagreed. They cited that government oversight and technologies to prevent such disasters had improved significantly over the past decade, so the likelihood of a new disaster of this type was low.
Always deeper and riskier
Last year, oil production in the Gulf of Mexico began at places where the pressure at the well can rise to over 20,000 PSI (about 1400 bar), significantly more than was the case with the "Deepwater Horizon".
Temperatures can be more than 177 degrees Celsius. And the deeper underground, the more difficult it is to reach the site in the event of an accident.