Ten years after Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Trump administration weakens regulations – The Washington Post

Ten years after Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Trump administration weakens regulations – The Washington Post

Ten years after Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Trump administration weakens regulations. A decade ago on April 20, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig leased by BP was working a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico when a surge in pressure and a blowout triggered a fire that killed 11 crew members and unleashed the largest oil spill in U.S. history.. Today attention has shifted to President Trump's efforts to undo safety steps taken by the Obama administration to prevent such a spill from happening again.. U.S. oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is greater than ever before, just under 2 million barrels a day in January, up a third over the 1.5 million barrels a day in the month the Deepwater Horizon caught fire, toppled over and sank to the ocean floor.. Today, BP and Royal Dutch Shell remain the biggest oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico.. Coast Guard's National Response Center has received notifications from companies and other observers that there were 13,187 spills in the federal waters off the Gulf of Mexico from the time of the BP spill through March, according to data compiled by SkyTruth, a satellite analysis firm.. Debra Phillips,