The Deep water Horizon, an offshore oil drilling platform, was destroyed on April 20, at night, in 2010 while working on a well on the sea floor in Gulf of Mexico. This explosion killed 11 people, the explosion occurred 41 miles off the coast of Louisiana. For nearly three months, oil flowed from the Macondo well at an estimated rate of “35,000 to 60,000 barrels per day.” (“There are 42 gallons in a barrel, so that equals 1.4 to 2.5 million gallons per day.”) Continued efforts to stop the flow were unsuccessful until mid-July, when a tighter cap forced sealed the well head. In all, 4.9 million gallons leaked from the well – the largest offshore oil spill in history. The oil company BP, which had leased the rig, promised to pay for the assault and compensate people for their losses, and set up a $20 billion fund for that purpose. By September the well was actually functioning