Deepwater Horizon and the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

This is now officially the largest oil spill (technically oil leak) in American history. Estimates of how many barrels have been pumped into the Gulf of Mexico are so varied, that it’s almost dishonest to even put a number to it yet, but it is in the tens of millions and may reach the hundreds of millions of barrels before the leak stops. Attempts by BP to halt the well have included: putting a giant dome over it, filling it with drilling fluid, and pumping it full of trash. Not surprisingly, none of these ridiculous stop-gap measures have worked. It’s clear now that BP never had a plan to contain a leak of this magnitude. This disaster is the defining moment for the current generation of marine scientists, environmentalists, and ocean activists. American marine conservation will be divided into “before the spill” and “after the spill” for the next century.

We will be continually updating this page with links to resources on the disaster.

Blogs – These are the blogs that are providing the best continuous coverage of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill:

• Deep Sea News: The DSN trio has done an amazing job covering the spill from the very beginning. They’re providing both news updates and in depth perspective from professional marine scientists.
• SkyTruth: The SkyTruth blog has been one of the most outstanding resources for technical analysis of the spill. Their eye in the sky perspective and intelligent editorial put the enormity of this spill into perspective from early on.
• The Spill: Marine Conservation News author Dr. Elliot Norse was so affected by the spill that he changed the name and re-focused the blog. “The Spill can mean two quite different things. It could refer to the growing BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. Or it could refer to the spill of thoughts and feelings that cascade from each and every one of us. Or it could mean both.”
• Jean-Michel Cousteau’s blog: It’s no surprise that the son of legendary Jacques Cousteau is a passionate as his father. Read his personal accounts from the Gulf of Mexico.
• gCaptain: The blog for maritime news, from maritime professionals. Their liveblogged coverage of the Deepwater Horizon hearings is especially insightful.
• Roughneck City: This website for oil field and oil rig workers has been discussing the Deepwater Horizon tragedy since the initial explosion. Check them out for an industry perspective, particularly the anonymous interview with a survivor from the Deepwater Horizon. Delve into the Drilling Ahead forums if you want to dig deeper into life and work on an oil rig.
• The Oil Drum: This website, populated by a dedicated group of offshore and industry professionals prides itself on maintaining a high signal to noise ratio. The comment threads are particularly informative.
• Gulf Oil Blog: A team of scientist from the University of Georgia is conducting research on the Gulf Oil Spill and keeping us all updated during their mission.
• The Pump Handle: Covering the public health aspects of this disaster. Their post “Trying to keep track of the Gulf investigations” is particularly good.
• Speakeasy Science: This blog has several excellent discussions going on the use of chemical dispersant.
• Spill Baby Spill: The Spill Baby Spill blog has a continuously updated news feed plus excellent coverage of the politics behind the disaster.
• Gulf Restoration Network Blog: Extensive coverage of the environmental and human aspects of this disaster. They have tons of photos and videos as well as first hand accounts and public outreach. Check out their ongoing video  series – Gulf Tides.
• Voices from the Spill: Take Part has provided good ongoing coverage of the oil disaster, but where they really shine is their Voices from the Spill series of interviews with fishermen and other stakeholders affected by the spill.
• Watergate Summer: The folks at Watergate Summer have done an impressive job compiling all of the information currently released about dispersants into one place. Rather then repeating them here, head over to Watergate Summer for more info.

Twitter – These are the twitter feeds you must follow if you want to stay up-to-date on everything surrounding the oilspill. You can follow the entire list here:

• Oil_Leaks: Oil & Mining Leaks has been providing a near constant feed of oil spill related news.
• SkyTruth: Of course the SkyTruth twitter feed is every bit as informative as the website.
• MacMcClelland: The human rights reporter for Mother Jones is on the ground in the Gulf providing constant updates.
• OilSpillNews: Another constant source of news updates on the spill.
• oceansolutions: The Center for Ocean Solutions twitter feed has been an excellent source for the effects of the oil spill on marine life.
• TheOilDrum: The twitter feed for The Oil Drum website.
• DrCraigMC: Craig McClain of Deep Sea News fame has been hunting down news from a diverse pool.
• BPglobalPR: Not the real BP feed (which is completely useless). This clever prankster has added occasional and much needed comic relief during this disaster. Sometimes a little to true to be funny. So far they’ve doanted $10,000 to the Gulf Restoration Network through sales of free $25 t-shirts. Read about the man behind BPglobalPR here.

One-offs – single posts or articles of exceptional quality:

• What caused the Deepwater Horizon disaster? The Oil Drum has provided an in depth analysis, vetted by many drilling and completion engineers and offshore professionals, of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, drawing from currently available information. The author cautions “It is early in the process of discovering what really happened. Because of the gravity and potential impact of this disaster on the nation and my industry, however, I wanted to provide an early and more investigative perspective than much of what has appeared in the media to date. The risk, of course, is that more information will invalidate some of what follows. I, therefore, wish to clarify that this is a fact-based interpretation of what may have happened on the Deepwater Horizon on April 20, 2010 but, in the end, it is an interpretation.” An absolute must read.
• The Oil Drum has a good summary of the top-kill process and what’s involved.
• The Ocean Future’s Society has posted a video of divers in the Gulf of Mexico after the spill.
• This info graphic is terrifying and heartbreaking: Crude Awakening.
• The Wall Street Journal interviews Andrea Fleytas, the Deep Water Horizon worker who issued the mayday and abandon ship orders for the oil rig, revealing a profound failure of the rigs leadership to do anything to prevent or control this disaster.
• Chris Rowan of Highly Allochthonous analyses the process of offshore drilling and argues that drilling for oil is more risky than it used to be.
• The Switchboard has an excellent animation showing the spread of the oil slick since the leak began.
• This fucking article on how to properly boom a shore-line to mitigate oil spills is so brilliant I almost considered renaming this whole page “The fucking resources you need to read on the fucking oilspill”. Go read it. Now.
• Small Things Considered has an outstanding article on the effect microbes may play on the break-down of oil in the Gulf. The short answer – not much.
• NOAA confirms presence of sub-sea plumes, despite BP’s vehement denial of said plumes.
• Julie Packard issues a call to action on World Ocean Day – we can succeed because we’ve done it before.
• Carl Safina has produced a video flyover of the Deepwater Horizon site, complete with well-informed commentary.
• Observations of a Nerd has an insightful and poignant post:  Reflections on the Gulf Oil Spill – Conversations With My Grandpa. About the response so far – “They’re friggin’ idiots.”
• Watch Carl Safina’s heartbreaking flight over the Deepwater Horizon site on day 52.
• Mac McClelland is quickly becoming the voice for the human impacts of this disaster. Two recent highlights: Depression, Abuse, Suicide: Fishermen’s Wives Face Post-Spill Trauma and La. Police Doing BP’s Dirty Work.
• Kevin Z of Deep Sea News deserves a special shout out for his piece – Pouring Oil on Troubled Waters.

Webcams: Here are a few webcams you can follow to watch the disaster unfold:

• You can now watch the live feeds from all 12 ROVs currently working at the wellhead.
• The R/V Cape Hatteras has been deployed to the Gulf and has a live camera watching the work deck.
• Not technically a webcam, but follow the Deepwater Horizon Joint Incident Command YouTube channel.

And just in case you think the Gulf of Mexico is the only global disaster currently unfolding, Wild Shores of Singapore and @VaranusSalvator are keeping us up to date with news on the Singapore Oil Spill.

Please direct your questions and comments to the active thread here. Suggesting of other resources are always appreciated.

We are getting tons of requests by bloggers and tweeps who want to be added to the list. In general they have all been very high quality. The ones currently on the list are the best of a very high quality pool. Before submitting additional resources, consider the following: blogs should be timely, contain expert-level editorial analysis, and have a unique focus.  They should s update frequently with original content. Tweeps should also consist of a high ratio of original content. Since all twitter feeds have different audiences, there is no penalty for retweets, but some content should be unique or links to hard-to-find resources. Either single blog posts or single tweets of excellent quality can be submitted as a one-off.