The Deepwater Horizon - An Environmental Conspiracy

There is no argument that what happened aboard the Deepwater Horizon on April 20th, 2010 was a tragedy. The blowout and subsequent explosion of flammable gases led to the deaths of 11 men, and the resulting oil spill was the worst marine oil spill in history. It took two days for the flaming oil rig to sink and settle on the ocean floor far below. It took nearly three months to cap the spewing well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, but not until nearly 5 million barrels of oil had escaped into the environment. Legal battles ensued and ultimately resulted in BP, Transocean, which owned the rig, and Halliburton being fined.

Despite the amount of time it took to stem the flow of oil into the Gulf and conduct legal proceedings, conspiracy theories surrounding the event were much quicker to materialize. Generally, theories were categorized based on political lines with Republicans blaming Democrats, and vice versa. In one theory, left-wing environmentalists, and even Barack Obama himself, were blamed for intentionally destroying the Deepwater Horizon in an attempt to force the government to impose greater regulations on the offshore oil drilling industry or ban it altogether. Reciprocally, the left claimed the oil industry destroyed the rig to lower production and supply, which would raise the price of oil, and, thereby, their own profits.

But, theories based on American politics weren’t the only ones making the rounds. North Korea was even blamed by some. According to this conspiracy, North Korea sank the Deepwater Horizon with torpedoes from a miniature submarine. Then, two days after torpedoing the oil rig, the crew maneuvered the submarine under the flaming structure and blew up themselves and their boat. Apparently, this was done in an attempt to hurt South Korea via the rig’s owner Transocean, which was a South Korean company.     

The 2016 Hollywood blockbuster Deepwater Horizon, starring Mark Wahlberg, portrayed the events differently, in a less conspiratorial light. That view is generally the norm. Yet, as with most conspiracies, the believers see clues in places that aren’t as obvious to others, and they attribute motivations that are nearly impossible to prove accurate. 

So, what camp are you in? Was the disaster aboard the Deepwater Horizon an accident, or was there a sinister hand at play upon the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico?