There is a law. In fact, there are three laws that, jointly and severally, should have anticipated and provided measures to prevent and cope with the explosion of the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon. Instead, we have 11 deaths, 17 serious injuries, the release of an American record 2.6 million gallons of oil, an equivalent record for chemical dispersants, months of Mutt `n' Jeff responses, enormous corporate losses, and the ensuing pain of the Gulf Coast region. Regulatory programs under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Act (OCSLA) and the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) each require the consideration of worstcase situations. The latter two go further in requiring plans to minimize such possibilities and to respond effectively to them when they occur. What could have gone so badly wrong?