On 20 April 2010, an explosion of fire occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. This resulted in eleven worker fatalities, a massive oil release and a national response effort in the Gulf of Mexico region by the federal and state governments. This book explores the issues that have arisen from this crisis, as well as how the spill affects the national energy policy, and the trade-offs between energy needs, risks of deepwater drilling and protection of natural resources and amenities