Oil Spill Background

On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on the semisubmersible oil platform Deepwater Horizon, owned and operated by Transocean, but leased to BP (formerly British Petroleum). The platform caught fire, sustained subsequent explosions, and sank. Eleven crew members are unaccounted for and have been declared dead. At first, it was believed that the rig's leak-prevention equipment had stopped any leaks, although some spill of diesel fuel and crude oil was expected.

On April 24, leaks were discovered thousands of feet below the surface, and it was estimated that oil was leaking at a rate of about 1000 barrels a day. By the 28th, estimates of the rate of oil leaking were raised to 5000 barrels a day, although some estimates run twice that rate.
 

By April 30, the slick from the oil spill had grown to cover an area of nearly 30,000 square miles, and oil began making landfall in Louisiana. As it grows, it threatens coastal areas in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida as well.
Although submersible robots have been employed to try to stop the leak, all efforts to stem stem the flow of the leak have failed.  It is currently unknown when or if the leak will be under control.
 

The leak could exceed the Alaska Valdez oil spill of 1989 as there is not just one single tanker of oil leaking: the entire oil bed deposit is leaking and the reserves of oil in the bed available to leak are unknown.   The disasterous impact could be compared to the difference in magnitude from the spilling of a cup of water spilling versus the leaking of a water pipe in a home.