Battling Blaze on Deepwater Horizon Oilrig
Description
Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed.
Mohandas K. Gandhi, quoted in Small is Beautiful by E. F. Schumacher
It was the turning point for the worst oil spill in our nation's history. On July 15, 2010, a 75-ton containment cap was placed on the Deepwater Horizon oil well, stopping the flow of oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time in 86 days... A six hour pressure test to determine the cap's viability was ambiguous, and the majority of the government science advisors concluded that without additional information, it would be too dangerous to leave the well shut in. As a result, the government would direct BP to reopen the well the next day, which would have caused the oil to once again flow back into the Gulf.
As the anxiety mounted, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Director Marcia McNutt turned to Paul Hsieh, a research hydrologist... who had been in Houston studying the well for several weeks... Working through the night from his office in California, Hsieh relied on [a] mobile phone photo of the well's pressure curve and a modified version of his reservoir modeling software to do his complex calculations. After hours of analysis, Hsieh concluded the cap would hold and was not leaking beneath the Gulf surface... As a result, the cap remained in place, and the well never spilled another drop of oil.
Mohandas K. Gandhi, quoted in Small is Beautiful by E. F. Schumacher
It was the turning point for the worst oil spill in our nation's history. On July 15, 2010, a 75-ton containment cap was placed on the Deepwater Horizon oil well, stopping the flow of oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time in 86 days... A six hour pressure test to determine the cap's viability was ambiguous, and the majority of the government science advisors concluded that without additional information, it would be too dangerous to leave the well shut in. As a result, the government would direct BP to reopen the well the next day, which would have caused the oil to once again flow back into the Gulf.
As the anxiety mounted, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Director Marcia McNutt turned to Paul Hsieh, a research hydrologist... who had been in Houston studying the well for several weeks... Working through the night from his office in California, Hsieh relied on [a] mobile phone photo of the well's pressure curve and a modified version of his reservoir modeling software to do his complex calculations. After hours of analysis, Hsieh concluded the cap would hold and was not leaking beneath the Gulf surface... As a result, the cap remained in place, and the well never spilled another drop of oil.
Creator
U.S. Coast Guard
Date
2010
Source
https://compote.slate.com/images/fdd58d15-7fc5-4b0f-8d10-141f42369e39.jpg
Rights
Source: Heyman S. J. (n.d.). 2011 Federal Employee of the Year. In Service to America Medals. Retrieved October 4, 2012, from http://bit.ly/pMamB3
For further exploration please visit http://bit.ly/pMamB3
For further exploration please visit http://bit.ly/pMamB3
Publisher
U.S. Coast Guard
Contributor
U.S. Coast Guard
Format
Medium: Photograph.
Language
English
Type
Tragedy
Identifier
Deepwater Horizon, Disaster, Gulf of Mexico, Oil, Security
Coverage
Gulf of Mexico
Files
Reference
U.S. Coast Guard, Battling Blaze on Deepwater Horizon Oilrig, U.S. Coast Guard, 2010
Cite As
U.S. Coast Guard, “Battling Blaze on Deepwater Horizon Oilrig,” Virtual Museum of Public Service, accessed March 16, 2025, https://vmps.omeka.net/items/show/150.