Feds Knew of Gulf Spill Risks in 2000

In 2000, Shell submitted an offshore drilling plan, including a report with the most dangerous hazards of deepwater drilling. One of the men who worked on the report actually worked for the MMS.  The drill site was less than 140 miles from the Deepwater Horizon site.

“Regaining well control in deep water may be a problem since it could require the operator to cap and control well flow at the seabed in greater water depths . . . and could require simultaneous firefighting efforts at the surface,” according to the report.  Some of the warnings included:

1) The chemical dispersants required to clean up a major spill would expose adult birds to a combination of oil and dispersant that could “reduce chick survival.”

2) “Fish eggs and larvae within a potentially large area of the northern Gulf would be killed.”

3) In certain weather and oceanographic conditions, a large blowout could have “severe adverse impacts” for wetland areas.

4) Not all the spilled oil would rise to the surface, and “there are few practical spill response options for dealing with submerged oil.” It predicted that gas surging from a blowout could form hydrates and remain deep underwater, a likely cause of some toxic subsea oil “plumes” that scientists have identified in the BP spill.

While quite prophetic, the report wasn’t perfect.  As usual, Shell still underestimated the risk and claimed it could be far more effective in cleaning up the spill than it actually could be.  The report also stated that the leak would not last longer than 2 days and the leak could be naturally plugged as rocks shift on the gulf’s floor.

While the MMS knew about the hazards, the increasing demand for new oil sources, especially domestically, overshadowed the cause for alarm.  If only they had listened…