Gulf of Mexico 1979, the "Ixtoc I" oil platform in the Bay of Campeche suffered a blowout leading to a catastrophic explosion, which resulted in a massive oil spill that continued for nine months before the well was finally capped. This was ranked as the largest oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico until the "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill in 2010. On April 20, 2010, the "Deepwater Horizon" oil platform, located in the Mississippi Canyon about off the Louisiana coast, suffered a catastrophic explosion; it sank a day-and-a-half later. It was in the process of being sealed with cement for temporary abandonment, to
Offshore drilling on the Atlantic coast of the United States in March 2010 that it intended to open oil and gas leasing in the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic planning areas. However, in May 2010, following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the administration cancelled the only scheduled Atlantic lease sale, for an area offshore Virginia. On December 1, 2010, the Obama Administration closed Atlantic and eastern Gulf areas to drilling. Commercial oil and gas drilling has never occurred offshore Virginia. Unlike the offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which occurs in both state and federal waters, the proposed offshore Virginia drilling would be exclusively in Federal waters more than from