National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling recommendations to Congress for new spending and regulations. National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling The National Commission on the BP "Deepwater Horizon" Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling is a bipartisan presidential commission, established by Executive Order signed by Barack Obama on May 21, 2010, that is "tasked with providing recommendations on how the United States can prevent and mitigate the impact of any future spills that result from offshore drilling." It came about as a result of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The first public hearings, held on July 12 and 13,
Oil spill volume is a limited measure of damage or impact. Smaller spills have already proven to have a great impact on ecosystems, such as the "Exxon Valdez" oil spill because of the remoteness of the site or the difficulty of an emergency environmental response. Since 2004, between 300 and 700 barrels of oil per day have been leaking from the site of an oil-production platform 12 miles off the Louisiana coast which sank in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan. The oil spill, which officials estimate could continue throughout the 21st century, will eventually overtake the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizion disaster as