Skytruth coal and other minerals throughout the United States. In April 2010, the offshore oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operated by BP P.L.C., exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and triggered the largest accidental oil spill in history. In cooperation with Florida State University, SkyTruth estimated the amount of oil flow from the damaged well-using satellite imagery and determined based conservative estimates using the visible surface slick that the flow of oil was between 5 and 25 times greater than BP reported. SkyTruth was the first organization to challenge BP's claims, and continued to monitor and document flow from the well
Oil spill governance in the United States oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico suggest more can and should have been done in this area. Evidence of this fact is present in the recommendations and investigations present in the January 2011 report by the recently established National Oil Spill Commission. A further sign of lack of proper governance is implicit in the action of the federal government to rename and reform the Minerals Management Service (MMS) into the now Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. The 1989 "Exxon Valdez" oil spill served as a major focal point in oil spill governance and reform. Prior to