The Deepwater Horizon, a drilling rig exploded then sank while working on an 18,000-foot well for BP(British Petroleum), started a spill on April 20. Report states the damaged well continued to lose around 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons, per day.

According to survivors, the workers were testing a cement seal at the bottom of the well, as they reduced the pressure in the drill column and attempted to set a second seal below the sea floor. A heat producing chemical reaction may have took place during the setting cement. The heat converted a pocket of methane crystals into a bubble of compressed gas which grew as it rose up the drill column and flooding into interconnecting rooms with exposed ignition sources, setting everything on fire. Leading to the deaths of nine rig crews and two engineers.

Reports state a lack of a device, the Acoustic Control. It is a remote backup switch that can trigger the oil well's emergency shut-off valves AKA the Blowout Preventer, if the Dead Man switch fails to work, which it did in this event. Despite the importance of having a contingency plan, it is not a requirement for oil rigs, as rigs had their own back-up plans to cut off a well. Drilling companies also questioned its cost of $500,000 and effectiveness. Due to the lack of it, an estimate of 1,000 barrels of oil are gushing into the sea daily.

Acoustic Control releases acoustic pulses that sends signal through the water to trigger the blow up preventer.
Dead Man is a switch designed to automatically cut the oil if the connection between the rig and subsea unit is severed


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Oil spill at Gulf of Mexico
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Afterthoughts
This had taught us a very important lesson on the need of an efficient contingency plan as the price paid is way too high. Marine eco-system, environment and fishermen received the direct impact from oil leak.

This is all because of the lack of effectiveness in emergency plan ,an environmental crisis of a large scale had occurred. The oil slick is getting closer to the shore, with 400 species of marine life and teeming with nested birds. Also, it is the reproductive season of many marine life. This will be a serious problem for US market for fish, as 40% of American's Seafood comes from the Gulf.

I believe that the government should set a stricter policy regarding the emergency plan of BP(British Parliament) and other oil companies to prevent similar incident from happening again. Company should run fire drill rigorously with these workers, so in times of emergency, there won't be panic as they are prepared for such situation, assign certain people from the workers to ensure that the emergency backup is activated and redevelop the emergency system to prevent the same mistake from happening again.

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