After the Spill – Documentary Critique

Tanner Purser
October 11, 2020

On April 20, 2010, an oil drilling rig called Deepwater Horizon, located in the Gulf of
Mexico, exploded, and sank creating the largest marine oil spill in history. I found this very
intriguing because I have enjoyed the movie Deepwater Horizon starring Mark Wahlberg and
thought it would be interesting to learn more of the facts behind the movie. The documentary
After the Spill discussed the aftereffects of the Deepwater Horizon spill, the corruption of the oil
industry, and even talked about a possible solution that the Netherlands has used. If viewers took
the line of reasoning presented in this documentary seriously, then more efforts could be taken to
counteract the corruption of the oil industry and its effects on the environment.
The documentary focused on the state of Louisiana and provided lots of perspectives
from residents and officials of the state on the matter of the Deepwater Horizon spill. I thought
the writers gave a very objective and to-the-point narrative to give the audience ample
information about the oil spill. The Deepwater Horizon rig was owned by Transocean and leased
by the oil company British Petroleum, or BP. There is an abundance of numbers and statistics
involved with the spill itself that are unprecedented. Approximately 41 miles off the coast of
Louisiana, the oil drilling rig was thought by US government officials to be spilling about 60,000
barrels of oil a day until roughly 4.9 million barrels of oil had been dumped into the ocean when
the well was finally sealed off (Pallardy, 2020). One fact that stood out in the documentary was
that even though BP made the claim that their biggest spill ever was contained, thousands and
thousands of other spills in the Gulf of Mexico were still happening every day that not many
people know about. There were many different efforts to clean up the spill. One was the process
of burning the oil offshore which produced enormous clouds of polluting smoke that was blown
into Louisiana air. Another tactic that was used was the aerial delivery of 1.8 million gallons of
toxic dispersants that would again later make its way onto Louisiana shores (Pallardy, 2020). The
efforts that were seen the most were those on land from the National Response Team. BP and
Transocean were also charged for billions of dollars in costs that accrued in the cleanup efforts.
Something that struck my interest was that a majority of those that were involved in the cleanup
effort experienced severe health problems such as blindness, cardiovascular diseases, nervous
system problems, and many more. These aren’t the only people and effects that could easily be
discovered. The main issue that Louisiana is facing besides clean air and water, is land loss. The
state of Louisiana is losing over an acre of land a day. This is due to oil companies digging and
creating new waterways for new pipelines or experimental drilling which cuts away natural
marshes and land masses. This accelerated erosion has resulted in a land loss of more land than
the state of Delaware. Because of this immense loss of natural marshes and barrier reefs,
hurricanes and other natural storms have an even stronger effect on the coast creating even more
problems for the state of Louisiana.
 I felt that this documentary was very efficient in providing clear and objective
information for the audience to understand all aspects of the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon
spill. One thing that I found interesting was to learn about the political side of things and how
corrupt the oil industry is. In fact, one of the cases that was brought to a US District Judge
against several oil companies for their role in land loss, was dismissed. Later, it was revealed that
the US Judge that dismissed the case was previously a lawyer for BP. This connection just
reinforces the power that the oil industry still has over the government decades after its
origination. The only thing that I believe the document didn’t stress enough was possible
solutions to the issues at hand. It provided an abundance of explanation of the effects and their
extent but did not discuss many solutions. One individual that they interviewed mentioned the
Netherlands and their common issue of extensive land loss and erosion. The Netherlands
suffered massive amounts of destruction and land loss from natural causes but was only going to
get worse. To combat this, they put forth massive upfront costs for new technology and
preventive measures to protect their land and residents. With these upfront costs came great
economic advantage in the long run. One point that this interviewee made was that the US was
unwilling to put up the upfront costs to take these kinds of steps towards recovery from decades
of destruction.
In the documentary, there were lots of examples of different types of arguments by BP
and other big oil companies that we have discussed in previous readings. One was the red herring
fallacy where an oil company would use irrelevant information to distract consumers from the
issues at hand. They did this through commercials and advertisements using visually pleasing
beach scenes, numbers of jobs produced, and “proof” of empty promises being fulfilled. After
the Spill provided viewers with undoubtedly clear evidence of the corruption of big oil
companies and its effects on our environment. If viewers took the line of reasoning presented in
this documentary seriously, then more efforts could be taken to counteract the corruption of the
oil industry and its effects on the environment.
 Pallardy, R. (2020, April 13). Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Retrieved October 12, 2020,
from https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill

 After the Spill, 2015