The United States government had difficulty managing the crisis caused by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill because there were no policies in place to deal with the extent of the crisis. The government had few avenues for forcing BP to come to terms with the accident and prevent the large-scale ecological devastation that was occurring because the government allowed deep-sea drilling without assuring the companies could handle scenarios when a deep-sea spill is caused. The example shows an egregious lack of accountability for the environmental consequences of such operations and the event is considered the largest marine oil spill in the petroleum industry's history.
