The 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Well Blowout: A Little Hindsight

No profile of events can capture all the facts, the chaos, and the many thousands of pages devoted to what the Gulf of Mexico oil blowout was—and was not. During several visits to the Gulf region in 2010 and in the months I spent writing a book on the subject, the best way I found to make sense of the blowout’s many facets was as conceptual topography, its contours shaped by the interlaced factual and emotional features of the event. Perceptions were important drivers of the effects of the event. Economic effects largely reflected perceptions by tourists and seafood consumers, and psychological effects resulted from deep uncertainty over ecological effects and consequently the future viability of fishing and tourism. It seemed an event unfolded in three acts: First, the factors leading up to the blowout. Two, the varied responses during the blowout while oil was still streaming from the well. Third, the post-leak period when assessment, study, and comparison merged the technological, political, emotional, and scientific components that comprised the event [1]. It is tempting to jump from the blowout to a discussion of America’s energy needs and the world’s energy future. Those larger implications can seem to be the main messages of the blowout. But those messages exist independent of the blowout. That’s why I will resist that connection until we discuss the blowout itself.