Whats the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill?
On April 20, 2010, a combination of mud, seawater and gas from methane hydrates erupted from the oil well of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The Deepwater Horizon was a semisubmersible platform searching for oil deposits. Once it found oil, the workers on board the rig capped the newly-drilled well in preparation to move on in search of more oil. The oil rig floated in more than 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) of water in the Gulf of Mexico. The well itself went much deeper — more than 13,000 feet (3,962 meters). The workers on the rig and the companies involved — BP, Transocean and Halliburton — say that there was some disagreement on the capping procedure. Normally, at least two cement plugs would be poured and hardened in the piping before removing the drilling mud from the well bore. The mud helps block sudden bursts of gas and oil. Ultimately, engineers decided to remove the mud before adding a second cement plug. A burst of gas r
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