RESTORE Act Gulf Coast. On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon, an oil rig located in the Gulf of Mexico that was owned by Transocean and drilling for British Petroleum (BP) exploded, killing 11 workers and injuring 16. The rig burned for over a day before it sunk into the gulf on April 22, 2010. Following the explosion, the seafloor oil gusher flowed for 87 days, spilling an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil into the gulf. The spill resulted in widespread damage to the environment and ecology of the gulf coast states, as well as subsequent economic damage to their tourism
Volume and extent of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in August 2010. USF's David Hollander remarked, "Oil's presence on the ocean floor didn't diminish with time; it grew" and he pointed out, "the layer is distributed very widely," radiating far from the wellhead. In 2013, some scientists at the "Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science Conference" said that as much as one-third of the oil may have been mixed with deep ocean sediments and dragged to the bottom of the ocean floor where it remains, risking damage to ecosystems and commercial fisheries. Oil at or near the site of the spill following well closure has suggested to