New Regulatory Deepwater Horizons?

On April 20, 2010 an explosion on Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon, an ultra-deepwater, offshore drilling rig, leased to British Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in what is now reported to be the largest domestic oil spill since the 1989 Exxon Valdez. The cause of the blowout has not been determined. However, the dependence on a single piece of equipment – the BOP – as a last line of defense to stop the flow of oil is an issue industry experts have raised for over a decade. It is time to listen to those warnings. Multiple, redundant and independent layers of safety equipment are necessary to protect our oceans when drilling at these depths – and more than likely the industry will be forced to absorb the reality of either onsite relief well capability, if not actual dual wells.

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