Roger Williams University Law Review Volume 17 | Issue 1 Article 10 Winter 2012 Blowout: Legal Legacy of the Deepwater Horizon Catastrophe:Federal Public Law and the Future of Oil and Gas Drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf David Pettit Natural Resources Defense Council David Newman Natural Resources Defense Council Follow this and additional works at: http://docs.rwu.edu/rwu_LR Recommended Citation Pettit, David and Newman, David (2012) "Blowout: Legal Legacy of the Deepwater Horizon Catastrophe:Federal Public Law and the Future of Oil and Gas Drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf," Roger Williams University Law Review: Vol. 17: Iss. 1, Article 10. Available at: http://docs.rwu.edu/rwu_LR/vol17/iss1/10 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at DOCS@RWU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Roger Williams University Law Review by an authorized administrator of DOCS@RWU. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Federal Public Law and the Future of Oil and Gas Drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf David Pettit* and David Newmant I. INTRODUCTION Transocean's Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, on lease to BP, exploded and caught fire on April 20, 2010. This event caused the deaths of eleven workers and resulted in an oil geyser that spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.' The Deepwater Horizon sank two days after the explosion. Nearly three months later, on July 15, 2010, BP was finally able to cap the well.2 The Flow Rate Technical Group, a group of scientists from federal agencies and academic institutions, estimated that * David Pettit, a 1975 graduate of UCLA Law School, is a Senior Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.