The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico (full documentary) | FRONTLINE 

Good on Eva for taking a stand instead of taking silence. Her forcing those documents to be released is amazing.

i live in Pensacola FL, on the Gulf Coast that was affected by this oil spill. i was a junior in high school and watched our tourist industry die essentially overnight because of it. 10+ years later, we still have oil washing up on the shore on occasion. i will *NEVER* forget this event, nor forgive BP for this tragedy.

Props to Eva Rowe for not settling and fighting back. BP executives must've felt really stupid in their high-rise corporate offices when a 100k plus odd fix ended up costing them 1 billion.

My dad was one of the survivors of the fire. He had major burns and was in the hospital for months. I was 2 years old at the time

I live in Texas City, Texas. I'll never forget the day our BP plant blew up. I was at school on Galveston island, about 16 miles from the plant. We were outside walking to Chapel that morning and it sounded like a bomb went off in the distance. The noise stopped all of us in our tracks. My mother was in Texas City at the post office. She said the noise was so loud it made her ears ring and the windows of the building literally rippled. It was a horrendous, heartbreaking day. We knew several people there that day, one of whom was a team leader that lost every single person in his group. He was the only survivor. The survivors guilt eats him alive to this day. After the Texas City Disaster of 1947 that is generally considered the worst industrial accident in U.S. history, injuring over 4,000 and killing over 500, you'd think that the oil refineries would have taken note to ensure nothing like that happened to them. Seen just how easily a small, simple thing can cause so much destruction and large scale fatal consequences. I've lived in Texas City all my nearly 29 years of life, and it was just common knowledge that the BP plant was a mess. My father worked for another refinery nearby when he was young and has said that safety is often put on the back burner at refineries; profit is the primary focus at many companies. That BP plant in particular was in desperate need of repairs, and a few parts had barely been touched since the 1940's. They had been warned REPEATEDLY, over a period of YEARS, IN WRITING that if the safety issues were not addressed, there could be, and likely WOULD BE, a catastrophic situation. But, they continued to ignore them and cut costs by cutting safety standards. I've become so accustomed to the numerous refineries in my city that I often forget just how quickly something even more catastrophic than BP could happen. I also have to wonder just how many things I've been exposed to after hearing that bit about them releasing toxic gases for 40 days without telling anyone. With their reputation, who knows what all they did over the years. BP no longer has a refinery here, but I sincerely hope they have finally learned their lesson after all the death and suffering they've caused over the years. But it's hard to be optimistic with their sordid history. I mean, they obviously didn't learn enough because Deep Water Horizon happened just several years after Texas City. I also hope that the remaining refineries here took note from BP's failures and are not so reckless and not so quick to brush off serious, legitimate concerns about safety... even one accident is tragic. But BP has had far too many for it to be called coincidence. And several had significant loss of life. It wasn't like they were all minor accidents that didn't seriously hurt or kill anyone. It boils down to pure, unadulterated greed at the expense of the lives of those that do the hardest, most dangerous work: not the suits and the big wigs at the top of the company, but the people that work their assess off every day on the oil rigs and at the refineries; people just trying to make a living and provide for their families, who shouldn't have to worry about their loved dying on the job because of negligence.

Ms. Rowe single handedly took on BP more than any state, government office or anyone else like no other. What a courageous and strong woman. She got more from BP than any other source including documents!

Dude with the NDA did a bang up job of getting his opinion on video without violating his order

I think this should have gotten a mention: The oil giant British Petroleum (BP) actually hired PR professionals to invent a concept designed to blame individuals, not fossil fuel companies, for climate change. And it was BP that revealed the phrase "carbon footprint", along with a "carbon footprint calculator" in 2004.

My dad worked for Amaco @ the TC facility in the 70's. He developed COPD 10 yrs ago in his 60's, which has ruined his retirement. No Dr or anyone else will admit this is linked to his exposure to toxic chemicals in the refineries.

BP: "The other lines still in operation aren't showing this problem at all." Narrator: "Two days later, there was another spill."

Watched this when it first aired,BP is a very dangerous corporation,and this is the best investigative news program on television.

My dad's vessel was one of the first to respond to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. He was a captain on a supply boat at the time. He spent a month offshore helping with the cleanup. He started working in the Gulf of Mexico in the mid-70s and said this was the worst thing he's ever seen. He said it was a nightmare come true.

*adds to downloads immediately so I can sleep to this*

Thanks Frontline, I'm currently writing a paper for a class all about this event right now. Great timing! Always look forward to watching these.

so at 6:25 the paper says $150 million but the narrator said $150k and within the next couple of scenes the 150M was changed on the so-called paper to $150k. did anyone else catch that?

The saying “you can have it cheap, fast and good but you can only pick two out of the three” applies here.

"Hey let's give corporations the rights of individuals" Well as a result shouldn't they face consequences the same way an individual does? "Hell no, they're corporations, not individuals" Logic checks out

That day was a panic day until I found out it wasn’t the rig my uncle worked on!! Then it was heartbreak thinking of the families that had to endure such sadness and grief!! My heart goes out to them!!

I remember this back in high school like it was yesterday.. witnessing the explosion from the rig and then the orange fluid leakage affecting sea animals in the river, especially the cranes and fishes.. and then many people and fishermen gotten sick from consuming them

Eva Rowe, good for you for standing up against them and doing what you did. You almost certainly saved many lives !

As a safety coordinator this is a clear example of no safety culture! Shame on BP!

As a retired union industrial painter America's industry is severely corroded. I've worked in chemical plants (Rubber town, Louisville, KY) or, Dupont, Rohm and Hass, BF Goodrich, among other's. These plants were a ticking time bomb. Severely corroded steel supports, piping, tanks. I've seen painting over pipes that were leaking, in an attempt to hide the leak. I've been retired for year's, and, I think most of the Rubbertown plants have changed ownership. We use to call this area the Russian front. I've worked in Pasadena Texas, Houston area, the chemical plants, oil refineries, this was year's ago, and these plants were nothing but a rust bucket. An accident waiting to happen. Just look at our country's water lines ( Flint Michigan) , sewer pipes, electric grid. I painted high voltage towers and substation steel for several years. OSHA cracked down on these companies over safety issues, I'm not sure how much maintenance is done these days. Our country's infrastructure is rotting away. I haven't even mentioned bridges. It would be the most massive undertaking to update our country's infrastructure, no previous project would come close. Never in our history. But, we better get started, it's rotting away more each day. One small example, at DuPont, they had some very highly toxic acid, HF Acid I think. They watched these tanks with cameras around the clock. In safety meeting they said, if you got one drop of this acid on you, it would burn down until it hit bone marrow. Some wicked stuff.

Another stellar documentary from PBS

Please keep uploading your docs PBS!! 🎯

I 100 % stop buying from BP years ago after I seen the deep water horizon movie and watch the survivor's interview on RU-vid so sad that BP will not pay for the survivor's medical need. BP is not a good business/ company. People need to stop giving BP business.

Dear Frontline: Please keep this narrator forever.

I’m a contractor for a pipeline company in the south east, we watch that CSB ( chemical safety board) video during annual training. We are always at odds with corporate and the field. What sounds good in an air conditioned office doesn’t always translate in the field. Luckily the company I contract for does a great job with maintenance and attention to the environment. Not pigging the line is insane, a temporary savings now?? With all the degrees in a room where these decisions are made no one invested in common sense, or a back bone????

A lot of people in my area worked on the rig. It has affected so many people. The survivors could not work due to their serious injuries and burns. They received settlements that didn't even cover ongoing heath care. The coastline is still effected.

Thank you Frontline, keep up the excellent work

My dad worked for Amoco all his life and this BP buyout caused him so much stress it ruined him and a family man got on heroin and crack to cope with the stress and I lost everything. I became a homeless 14 year old because of the evils of this company and the stress they put on their workers.

I say it all the time and I will continue to say it, Frontline are the best journalism on TV. And that includes the intercept propublica and all the Affiliates that Frontline works with. Not to mention a c Thompson who was one of the best reporters for propublica. I trust PBS and I always will

the edits of the well sinking to the cost cutting measures was amazing.

Please keep uploading your videos, these are masterpieces

My in-laws own a pipe fabrication in Texas and whenever we have a job (usually a turn around) for BP our crew are still to this day worried 😟

I remember that during the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico you could smell a strong burnt grease smell all the way over in the town of Lake Wales, Florida, which was in the middle of Florida and about 300 miles away. The wind often blew from west to east, directly across the open water of the Gulf without anything to block it and then across Florida which is also flat. The air made you cough, and your throat and eyes felt very irritated. The smell even came inside your apartment with the windows shut. The local TV news would downplay it because Florida depends a lot on tourism, and they would show pictures of the spill site on a map as if it was very far away. The reality was it was not that far away, and it was directly in line with the direction of the wind. My apartment maintenance man who was outside a lot said he had started gobbling cough drops to sooth his throat. It was like breathing directly from a giant exhaust fan from a big greasy restaurant kitchen, when there was no restaurant anywhere nearby, just the huge amount of spilled oil baking in the Florida sun in the ocean water in the Gulf of Mexico.

I was living in Destin FL when the deep water horizon blew and it killed the our tourist industry overnight within a couple of days the Beaches were a ghost town and I will NEVER forgive BP for what they did

This story hits very close to home

Can’t cut into those executives bonuses. A tenth of those bonuses would have paid for all safety fixes.

Been on a huge Frontline binge recently - every single one has been fantastic.

"70 million in fines" for Texas City... That's laughable. That's a "business tax"... that's like paying a toll on the way to work... that's just a fee of doing business for BP. Apparently it costs them less to pay government fines and bereaved families hush money after major accidents than it does to perform preventative actions and maintenance. When the company makes yearly revenues measured in the hundred BILLIONS, a few tens of millions of dollars is chump change, it's a f*king rounding error... Fines should be a DETERRENT for detrimental activities, not a "cost of doing business". If government was really interested in affecting change, it would impose fines and sanctions that would make screwing up MORE COSTLY than the capital expenditure to actually fix the thing in the first place...

I went on family vacation to gulf shores alabama a few months after the oil spill. We were there maybe an hour when the water started turning black and washing up oil everywhere on the beach. I was there when they shut the beaches down because it was so bad.

This video won’t play. I have tried for a couple of days. I can play any other Frontline Video. Strange?

Those NCSB investigation videos are really amazing. Credit to you all for using the footage.

Watching this made me ill and scared me quite severely. That ANY company producing any product with such an enormous potential for environmental impact (good, or bad), to have such a cavalier attitude towards safety is shocking. That said, I find it difficult to believe that the 5 competing oil executives would have preformed much differently if they had a Clearwater Horizon of their own.

Funny how BP keeps running ads on Facebook, and the comments are full of people bringing up the spill in the Gulf. BP responds to them with how they are "helping" to restore the economy and nature that they destroyed. They make their responses sound like they are doing a favor to the Gulf region, while never admitting guilt. This company hasn't changed one bit.

Excellent presenation - the epitome of Profits first, safety last - but preach the gospel at every turn, "Safety First". Spent 35 years in the oil patch, got gassed, poisoned, mistreated, and not a single acknowledgement from management.

This gentleman’s voice is so soothing thx Frontline I enjoy watching these documentaries 👍🏾

What blows up my mind is that companies in various complex industrial areas prefer paying billions in fines an settlements, to the normal maintenance of their facilities, which would cost WAY smaller amount of money.

The company should be barred from doing business in the US for these kinds of infractions and pattern negligence. Managers are not in a position to override science and standards.

Is this video not working for anyone else?

Martin you have done a superb job with the journalism in this piece!

Having managed PMS, safety and environmental for a natural gas processing company I know the pain in preventing these events. Multiple times I expected to be fired for backing engineers including the VP of engineering into a corner to get answers regarding project issues or to prevent drive by engineering (those who know, know). In the end I had 1 person between me and the company president and had his ear 24/7. For those still in EHE never let something slide if life is on the line, don’t let your pride be purchased.

Journalistic Integrity - Thank you Frontline 😊

To call this a "spill" is dreadful.

Thanks frontline, your program is an American treasure. I still do not eat any seafood from the gulf in 2022. A follow up would be great. I'm sure they are doing nothing different since this aired in 2010. They are criminals.

Can't play the video. Says "no connection tap to retry"

Thank you for fixing this doc! It is available for me now!!!

Thank you for what you do frontline!

Thank you RU-vid premium keep bringing Frontline episodes of documentaries from the history past future and present

Can’t view it. I can see other videos except this one.

I want BP out of U.S. territory permanently... Wonder how many politicians have accepted big bribes to look the other way...?

I've never bought gas at a BP station for the last 15 years because of how they treat their people.

Frontline does American history better than anything on cable news.

Frontline does the investigation and research that our Federal, state and local governments fail to do.

Thank you Frontline for your excellent reporting. I am weary of the perpetual corruption to save small amounts.

Anyone else having issues trying to watch the video? I get a message saying, “ No connection Tap to retry”. Also, not interested in a spam/scam respond.

“No connection tap to retry” has shown ever since the video was uploaded… looking forward to watching this one.

Video doesn’t seem to work. Says no connection?

I haven't seen an oil major that works any differently from BP. Everyone I have worked for tries to cut costs and most of that is in areas of safety or worker's salaries excluding upper management

Gosh I remember when this happened. I’m originally from the gulf coast but moved several hours away. Once a year we would travel back down to visit family and a beach trip was a must. I remember this ruining that trip for us because I, 13 at the time, was devastated we couldn’t go to the beach that year.

Wonderful documentary . Keep it up

They should have held BP chief executives on the board responsible who put profits over safety…

I absolutely LOVE your documentaries! Greetings from beautiful Belize!

I would really like to watch but it only plays on my phone. The video doesn't play at all on the RU-vid smart tv app, and the volume is muted on the PBS smart TV app. Anyone else having this issue?

this happened when I was just 5 years old. I never knew that people were killed due to BP's incompetence. truly unbelievable. proud to say BP has never made a cent off of me

It says no connection. Can you fix this please?

Another good documentary 🙏🙏🙏

Another big thank you to Frontline.

This is a perfect example of when management doesn't listen to the people actually doing the work.

Anyone else getting a no connection error on only this video?

That's not even profits over people anymore. It's sheer stupidity and incompetence.

FRONTLINE IS AN AMAZING DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM !!! THE GOLD STANDARD!!! Frontline has stood the test of time !!! Been watching since i was a kid... 😊😊😊

This is so informative! Great job, fantastic reporting!🌻🌼🐝 Keep it up 🙌

How in the hell did those charges of manslaughter for the Deepwater Horizon get dropped!!!!!!!!!! 😡 My little brother has PTSD from the explosion in Texas City. 😡

Video is not playing, no issues with internet connection or the device. Other videos are playing fine.

I have an issue with this video, it says no connection tap to retry every time I try to watch it. I can comment and watch other videos, but this one only will not load or anything.

That backwards check valve is a design issue. It should be made in a way that makes it *impossible* to install incorrectly.

Great work on this. One thing I an wondering about. They're a British company, right? Does their parliament and/or safety agencies take action about this? Curious.

Keeps telling me NO CONNECTION. All the other videos work. This doesn’t play

I remember all soo well when this devastating incompetent catastrophic man's fault incident happen. It cause me to had to depart from a job which I was there for 21 years. And BP have yet to compensate me for their SCREW UP.

There needs to be stringent regulation and serious enforcement for this industry. When corporate profits take priority over human life and safety as well as environmental consequences, then accidents like this are to be expected. Where were the inspectors and the regulators in this scenario? Where was the EPA? We can’t rely on private corporations to regulate themselves.

I can't believe oil is actually rare or running out. If that was the case oil companies wouldn't let oil spill out of tankers, pipe lines and rigs like it was worthless.

I was digging a whole in the sand at st Joseph's bay for my daughter3 weeks ago. 10 inches down,oil . had to make my daughter get out of water. you could see oil floating. so sad.

Greedy oil thugs! Sickening! Lock them up..instead of everyday people that can't afford bail for minor offenses!

i was just looking for a documentary on this a few months ago, cool!

Heck yeah. Love me some FRONTLINE ❤️

DOING THINGS RIGHT FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!! IS ALWAYS BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"It was mostly political theatre." Hasn't really changed in 12yrs, has it?

Am I the only one who keeps getting an error of no connection (which is wrong) and it won’t play?

"The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli."