BP’s Spill Response Based on Faulty Government Model, WSJ Says

BP Plc and other oil companies were required to base their approach to a potential spill in the Gulf of Mexico on U.S. government guidelines that were last updated in 2004, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The faulty government models expected oil to evaporate quickly or get broken up by waves or weather, the newspaper said. They also didn’t expect oil to reach the shoreline even in after much bigger spill than the current one, the Journal said.