These Photos Of The 2010 BP Oil Spill Are Weirdly Mesmerizing
On April 22, two days after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, an oil leak was discovered when an oil slick began to spread at the former rig site.
Originally, BP reported that no oil was escaping from the well. On April 24, the Coast Guard confirmed that there was a "serious spill" occurring.
Beltra showed up on the scene shortly after. When he arrived, he was surprised that there wasn't much to see. It turned out that oil wasn't yet reaching the shore yet.
Beltra contracted a plane to take him out each day in search of oil slicks and burning boats. Even that task was difficult. Planes were barred from numerous areas and couldn't fly below 3,000 feet.
With 62,000 barrels of oil flowing from the leak per day, Beltra and his pilot began to find places where the oil had risen to the surface.
Meanwhile BP was desperately working to stem the spill. The company sent underwater robots to try to activate the well's defunct blowout preventer safety valve, but this failed.
Next, BP tried placing a "containment dome" over the largest leak and piping the oil to a storage vessel. That method failed as well.
In mid-May, BP engineers successfully inserted a tube to begin capturing some of the oil, which was then transferred to a drill ship on the surface.
When I was there working, I was just like, when is this going to end?" Beltra told Business Insider. "It was flowing and flowing and flowing.
Beltra continued to work. His original 4-day term was extended to 28 days. After the first month, the spill showed no signs of stopping.
For part of the cleanup, the Coast Guard would ignite "controlled burns" of oil slicks. This method works, but only in very particular situations.
In late May, oil began finally reaching Louisiana shores. According to Beltra, BP and the government began heavily controlling what areas the media did and didn't have to access to.
[BP and the government] were trying to minimize what was going on," Beltra says. "They wanted it to look like it wasn’t as bad as it was.
![[BP and the government] were trying to minimize what was going on," Beltra says. "They wanted it to look like it wasn’t as bad as it was.](https://staticbiassets.in/thumb/msid-33141906,width-700,height-525,imgsize-852278/bp-and-the-government-were-trying-to-minimize-what-was-going-on-beltra-says-they-wanted-it-to-look-like-it-wasnt-as-bad-as-it-was-.jpg)
Beltra says it was impossible to get access to dead animals, of which there were many. "Every carcass was recovered and quickly put into locked freezers — for the coming lawsuit they told us," Beltra says. After weeks of trying, Beltra finally got access to an animal cleanup facility for one hour. They showed him these birds.
After nearly three months and 4.9 million barrels of oil, the leak was finally capped on July 15. In June, BP announced the cleanup complete, after 3 years of working in the area. Questions remain about the long-term effects of the spill.
Getting the real story can be difficult and dangerous...
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