National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling 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, 2010 in New Orleans, included scheduled testimony from
Deepwater Horizon oil spill figure, saying that the government overestimated the volume. Internal emails released in 2013 showed that one BP employee had estimates that matched those of the FRTG, and shared the data with supervisors, but BP continued with their lower number. The company argued that government figures do not reflect over of oil that was collected or burned before it could enter the Gulf waters. According to the satellite images, the spill directly affected of ocean, which is comparable to the size of Oklahoma. By early June 2010, oil had washed up on of Louisiana's coast and along the Mississippi, Florida, and