ABSTRACT
On April 20, 2010, the Gulf of Mexico and all the states that border it suffered another disaster that would rival Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Hugo in terms of environmental, economic, and political upheaval. That night 11 men lost their lives in an explosion that ripped through British Petroleum’s (BP) Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig that resulted in a massive fire and the ultimate collapse of the huge platform. BP is the lease holder and operator for the area that includes the Macondo well, where the Deepwater Horizon rig was located. Transocean was the owner/operator of Deepwater Horizon, while Halliburton/Sperry Sun was the provider of cementing and well-monitoring services. Initially, information about what was going on at the Macondo well site and the Deepwater Horizon rig was confusing and unreliable. BP made a number of bad public relations decisions, not the least of which was not being forthcoming about how serious the resulting oil spill had become.
