Deepwater Drilling In The Gulf Essay

The history of offshore and deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico began as early as the 1940s, and it has been a vital source of oil and gas for the United States (National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling n.d.). In specific, deep-water drilling pump oil in the deep sea level—a permanently dark environment with constantly cold temperatures just above freezing and extremely high pressures (The Ocean Portal Team 2018). Despite technique challenges of deep-water drilling, the huge profit potential attracts international oil companies to extract oil in the Gulf. Opponents argue that deep-sea drilling not only dangerous to the workers but also impose environmental and social risks. Meanwhile, the prolonged

history (National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling n.d.). On April 20, 2010, the oil drilling rig exploded and sank, resulting in the death of 11 workers. Four million barrels of oil were leaked, the largest spill of oil in the history (Environmental Protection Agency n.d.). Soon after the spill, President Obama issued a six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling (Zachos 2018). The moratorium banned any drilling activities in the Gulf and strengthen the permitting process until the reasons of the Deepwater Horizon were clear. However, in 2012, two years after the moratorium and the incident, federal regulators have issued the most permits for new wells since 2007, and many in the industry expected oil production exceed pre-spill level (Thompson 2012). Drilling efforts have continued. In 2018, 8 years after the Deepwater Horizon incident, 175 drilling wells are operating in the Gulf (Rigzone.com n.d.). Precedent Trump recently plan to roll back all the regulations on offshore drilling set forth by the Obama Administration, stating that offshore drilling is good for the economy. Deep-sea drilling continues booming after the Tragedy of Deepwater