Deep Water: The Gulf Oil Disaster And The Future Of Offshore Drilling

by National Commission on the B.P. Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling (Editor)

On April 20, 2010, the Macondo well blew out, costing the lives of 11 men, and beginning a catastrophe that sank the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and spilled nearly 5 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill disrupted an entire region s economy, damaged fisheries and critical habitats, and brought vividly to light the risks of deepwater drilling for oil and gas the latest frontier in the national energy supply. Soon after, President Barack Obama appointed a seven-member Commission to investigate the disaster, analyze its causes and effects, and recommend the actions necessary to minimize such risks in the future. The Commission s report offers the American public and policymakers alike the fullest account available of what happened in the Gulf and why, and proposes actions changes in company behavior, reform of government oversight, and investments in research and technology required as industry moves forward to meet the nation s energy needs.

Genres: Nonfiction

371 pages, Paperback

First published March 17, 2009

Reviews

[Jon Wlasiuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A respectable history of the Deepwater Horizon disaster marred only by its failure to highlight the neoliberal foundation of the petroleum industry’s gamble with our health and environmental stability.

[Alan]

In April 2011 the Economist reviewed 6 books on the Deepwater Horizon blowout that had been released on the 1-year anniversary of the accident. The Economist concluded that the best book on the accident was still this report of the Presidential Commission, which is available for free on the web. I haven't read the other 6 books. This report is indeed very good. The whole book seems consistently focussed on delivering its main messages in a compelling way. It's mostly a page-turner with relatively few of the digressions and extra words that burden other bureaucratic reports. Some of the later chapters suffer from some of these problems, but not the beginning. The beginning tells what happened in the hours around the accident like a thriller. But like a good mystery writer, the authors leave clues that set the reader up for the research, analysis and conclusions of the story's detective, i.e. the Commission.

[Martin Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Velskrevet og meget spændende og informativ ... og skræmmende.