The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: Cause, Response, and Implications

Join us for a presentation on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.  Our speaker, LCDR Michele Fitzpatrick USCG (ret), served on the USCG response and assessment team during the spill and has significant experience with hazardous materials management.

When
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 6:00 PM

Location
BAE Systems Auditorium
65 Spit Brook Road, Nashua, NH

Agenda
6:00-6:25 - Check-in at BAE Systems Lobby
6:30-8:00 - Presentation
8:15 - Optional dinner with speaker at a local restaurant (TBD)

Registration Deadline Extended to Thursday, Nov 3, 2011
US Citenship status is required as BAE has pre-check-in procedures for non-US Citizens.
After registering, please e-mail cor@swesnh.org if you are not a US Citizen.

Check-in is required at BAE Systems.  Please bring a valid ID.
Cameras or camera equipped cell phones are NOT allowed on the BAE premises.

Synopsis
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig situated about 41 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast experienced a catastrophic explosion and fire while drilling an exploratory well, killing 11 workers and causing the rig to sink to the seafloor.  Two days after the incident, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) announced the leaking of oil from the broken pipe on the seafloor approximately 5,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.  Additional leaks, coming from kinks in the broken pipe, were observed over the next several days by industry-grade remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and oil sheen was observed at the sea surface.  The leak continued until the well was capped in August.  The goverment estimates the well ultimately released 4-5 million barrels of oil, making the Deepwater Horizon oil spill the largest in U.S. history.

During the spill response, retired USCG Officer Michele Fitzpatrick worked as a contractor for the USCG Research and Development Center's Interagency Alternative Technology Assessment Program (IATAP).  IATAP reviewed ideas from goverment, industry, academia, and public entities that addressed five major technology areas in Deepwater Horizon Response effors.  Ms. Fitzpatrick also participated in USCG-sponsored lessons learned symposia.  She will discuss the cause of the spill, industry and government's response efforts, and implications for the future based on lessons learned from this spill.

About Our Speaker
LCDR Michele Fitzpatrick retired from the U.S. Coast Guard after 20 years of active service.  In the first class of women to attend the USCG Academy, she received her bachelor's degree in ocean engineering there and a master's degree in physics from the Naval Postgraduate School.  She is currently a doctoral candidate in geophysics at the University of Connecticut.  Michele has been a member of the Society of Women Engineers for over 30 years and has served on its Board of Directors and is currently a Trustee.  She was selected as a Fellow of SWE in 2006.

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