U.S. NAVY SALVAGE REPORT DEEPWATER HORIZON ... - ESSM

FOREWORD
The explosion and sinking of mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon (DWH) in April 2010
was a significant event at a number of levels. First and foremost, it was a horrible tragedy for
those individuals who lost their lives or were injured and for their families. It was also a shock
and subsequent wakeup call to the oil drilling industry (oil companies, rig owners, and drilling
operators) and their federal partners (Minerals Management Service (MMS) now the Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
(BSEE), Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Coast Guard) who oversee off-shore drilling
operations. The blown out, then free flowing well caused serious contamination of the Gulf of
Mexico, impacting Gulf coastal waters from Panama City, Florida to central Louisiana. In
addition to the huge clean-up costs, the oil contamination had significant impacts on the Gulf
economy through restrictions on commercial and recreational fishing and from loss of tourism.
When the National Response Team convened its first daily meeting on 22 April, it met with
leadership across the federal government including the White House, U.S. Coast Guard,
Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Interior, and
Environmental Protection Agency. Concurrently, a Unified Area Command (UAC) was
established on 23 April; SUPSALV assistance was requested on 27 April, and then two days
later, on 29 April, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared the
DWH disaster a Spill of National Significance (SONS). This was the first declaration of a SONS
event since the National Oil and Hazardous Substance Contingency Plan established the SONS
framework. SUPSALV had been supporting USCG and participating in SONS exercises for a
number of years - this was the real thing.
This report documents SUPSALV's operations during 6 months of support to the U.S. Coast
Guard, Department of Interior (DOI) and Department of Justice (DOJ). SUPSALV provided oil
spill response equipment and personnel at levels only matched by our response to EXXON
VALDEZ in 1989, and also, engineering support at the Unified Command in Houston and ocean
engineering expertise on the sea floor with our detailed survey of the DWH platform for the
Department of Justice. Our crews worked exhaustively for months, in the extreme heat that is
typical of summer in the Gulf Coast.
The SUPSALV team's work contributed significantly to securing the leak, protecting the Gulf's
waters, and assisting in the investigation of the cause of the tragedy. Well done.
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