Summary: Last year, on April 20, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon MC252 drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico killed eleven people and caused the rig to sink. Then, oil began leaking into the Gulf. Before the wellhead was finally capped in mid-July, almost 5 million barrels of oil were released. Today, we look back at NOAA's role in the Deepwater Horizon spill response--the months when oil was spilling into the Gulf--through the eyes of one of the first NOAA responders to the spill. We're joined by Debbie Payton, chief of the Office of Response and Restoration's Emergency Response Division.
