The U.S. Department of Energy has published a number of reports related to the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill. These make great background information for educators, scientists and engineers, and anyone who would like to know more about this oil spill disaster. The website is: http://www.energy.gov/open/oilspilldata.htm

While some of the information may be a bit too detailed for general consumption (such as the “Flange Connector Spool Assembly Report”), the general timeline of the failure, details on the design of the blowout preventer (which failed) and subsequent technologies to contain the oil flow, as well as the footage of the oil flowing from the broken pipe, are fascinating.