The e Deepwater Horizon oil spill at the Macondo well began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on 20 April 2010 killed 11 people and caused almost 5 million barrels of oil to flow into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill covered 68,000 square miles of land and sea and triggered a response effort involving the use of nearly 2 million gallons of dispersant chemicals (Pallardy). Considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in history, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS) resulted in widespread environmental and economic damage, the exact nature of which is only beginning to be understood (Shultz 59). This paper will address the causes of this unmitigated ecological disaster and discuss steps that need to be taken to prevent a similar disaster from occurring again.
There were a number of causes for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, most of which had more to do with the human element that with any technology itself. The four biggest ways that humans contributed to the disaster, as explained by journalist David Coburn, was the fact that British Petroleum’s (BP) past success built a sense of complacency, the shifting the burden of proof, the normalization of deviance and the fact that promoters for an industry also serve as that industry’s regulatory enforcers. One might ask themselves how being continuously successful can make a person or agency more likely to suffer a disaster. If they
IMPACT OF THE DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL IN THE GULF OF MEXICO ON THE LOCAL ENVIRONMENT
The Gulf oil spill, dated nearly six years ago, still haunts the waters today from what several scientists have claimed the article “Deepwater Horizon: One Year On.” In this article, the writer discusses how the scientists researching the spill have concluded thousands of species are becoming endangered from the Gulf of Mexico to the shores located around the gulf area. The article explains the cleaning of the spill had not made as much of an impact as they hoped for several years ago. The aforementioned scientists reported that the vast majority of the oil was not pulled from the water, and much of it has either: sunk to the bottom of the ocean, burned at the top, or made its way to shore. That being said, they also report that the shore,
The eventual buildup to the BP oil spill started during the Bush Administration. The Bush Administration's oil demand and antigovernment sensibility soiled the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the agency charged with regulating offshore drilling. Vice President Dick Cheney had presided over the weakening of drilling regulations, including the exclusion of remote-shut-off switches which might have prevented the disaster. Soon, MMS was nothing but a shell of its former shell filled with corruption and political influence. In a 2008 report it was found that the agency's regulators were taking gifts from, and having sex with the employees of, the companies they were supposed to be monitoring. Furthermore, the
For instance, Rufe, who is a scientist, states that we have not developed an approach that can clean more than 3 to 5 percent of the spilled oil” (Mufson, 2012). Furthermore, In the Gulf of Mexico, although 205.8 million gallons of oil have been spilled, just 51.8 million gallons have been collected, which equals approximately 25 percent. Moreover, in order to clean the Gulf from the oil spills almost 2 million gallons of toxic dispersants were used. Unfortunately, the toxic dispersants did not truly purify the spilled oil, but fractured them into tinier particles. As a consequence, that may make the oil more harmful for some ocean animals and plants ( A Center for Biological Diversity Report, 2008). However, with the increasing of offshore oil drilling accidents, and with no solution to solve the problem efficiently. The hazardous impact is not going to affect only on animals and plants. It might affect people who depend on the polluted area for food, ecological enrichment, and entertainment ( A Center for Biological Diversity Report,
In May of 2010, the Deepwater Horizon crisis occurred and began affecting our organization and a multitude of groups reliant on British Petroleum and the environment.. This oil spill continued for three months; although the remnants are still lingering today, they affected our publics as well as our company as a whole. The proactive strategies we had in place were significantly underdeveloped. As a company, we should have considered the likelihood of such a crisis, as well as better prepared for it. The reactive strategies implemented after the crisis were moderately effective; however, not sufficient enough due to the colossal scale of the spill. Therefore, we at British Petroleum have created a new set of goals and objectives, that take a
The Deep Horizon oil spill caused by British Petroleum (BP) changed the entire economy of the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately 5 million barrels of oils was released from the spill caused by an explosion in the oil platform. The explosion was caused by negligence by BP. In the New York Times article, BP Shortcuts Led to Gulf Oil Spill, Report Says, it states the central problem was with the cement at the base of the well escalating into human and mechanical errors which led to gas to shooting up to the platform and exploding causing a fire that killed 11 people. It took about 87 days to stop the flow of the well but the mess of the event is still affecting many people who inhabit the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and those who use the Gulf as a
April 20, 2010 has gone down in the history books as the day that the most horrific oil spill in history happened. British Petroleum’s leased offshore drilling rig exploded on this day. The Deepwater Horizon caused the largest accidental marine oil spill ever (Crandall, Parnell and Spillan, 2013). The ruptured oil well leaked nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the sea over a three month period of time. The devastation killed eleven men. 17 others were severely injured. The devastation reached marine wildlife and some 5 years later, that group is still feeling the after affects.
On April 20, 2010 British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig located forty miles off the coast of Louisiana exploded due to high pressure of methane gas seeping into the drilling riser and expanding. The explosion killed 11 men working on the rig, injured 17 other, and causing millions of gallons of crude oil to begin spilling into the ocean. This tragic accident has left many question like why did this happen? What could have been done to prevent it? and can we assure a disaster like this never happens again? In this essay we will look to answer these questions in painstaking detail.
Oil spills happens every year through cleaning of tankers. These spills contribute more petro-pollutants to the ocean than offshore rig blowouts though less attention is generated when compared to blowouts of oil rigs (Nadakavukaren, 2006). Whenever there is a rig blowout or tanker spill, far more attention is attracted as in the case of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is an oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico with oil spilling for three months in 2010. This spill generated a lot of attention and the EPA is monitoring the air, water, sediments and waste management data so as to protect people from this environmental disaster “The EPA has an active oil spill prevention program which focuses
British Petroleum is one of the biggest oil and gas organizations around the world. British Petroleum had the rights to investigate the Macondo all around, situated in the Gulf of Mexico in 2009. Events like Deep Water Horizon explosion has also been taken place under the supervision of the British Petroleum company. Because of the absence of regulations, both inward and outward, and in additionally due to the reduction in the health and safety budget decision by the higher management, the incident of the Deep Water Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico region has happened. Despite the fact that the oil kit was rented by British Petroleum, an organization named Transocean claimed and worked the Deep Water Horizon. Their activities, deliberate or not, changed the lives of numerous people and eventually denied them of their basic universal rights. By neglecting to protect individuals from destitution, British Petroleum, abused their insignificant obligations and acted in a totally deceptive manner. Due to the oil spill, the tourism and fishery industry is severely damaged and the aquatic life and human life are facing the consequences still today. British Petroleum should dependably survey conceivable dangers, and discover
BP oil spill which is also called the deep water horizon spill have become one of the largest oil spill in the history that began on 20 April 2014. There was discharged of 4.9 million barrels of oil i.e. in the floor of the gulf of Mexico which caused the death of 11 lives, 6104 birds and also the sea turtles as well as the 100 dolphin .likewise, it also affect several wildlife’s .This disaster have wiped nearly about $40 million from the market value of BP’s and also in may 2010, nearly about 130 lawsuits were being filed against BP.
An oil spill of 4.9 million barrels, which happened in 2010, created not only turmoil for the environment, but caused the economy to take a great hit from the loss of an important raw material. Transocean were the owners of the oil rig drilling on behalf of BP, who were the ones at fault for the spill. This event caused a stir in both the government and non-governmental organizations, because of the extensive damage that it caused. Federal investigations were put under way to determine the factors that caused the spill and once the investigation was concluded several environmental groups began to target the company to portray them as negligent. BP became the sole recipient of both the government and environmental organizations
Today, with the continual and rapidly growing need of energy demand by big nations like United States and China continuing to furnish their domestic consumptions of oil have led to increased prices of gasoline whereby alternative forms of energy production are sought. With this in mind, offshore drilling can be a viable option for satiating the need of oil and also to boost the economy of the nation. In this report, I am going to discuss how the current Deepwater Horizon rig explosion has led to disastrous oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico causing environmental problems and also discuss how the oil spill if resolved and with safe and secure drilling techniques, the economic impact of offshore drilling can outweigh the environmental issues.
The BP oil spill, also known as the deep-water horizon oil spill is one of the worst oil spills in U.S History. On April 20th, 2010, a fire broke out on the platform resulting in an explosion that claimed the lives of eleven workers as well as severely injuring seventeen. Also because of the explosion, an estimated 3.19 million gallons of crude oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico wreaking havoc on the ecological system as well as the human population that inhabited those affected areas along the coastline. Not only did the deep-water horizon oil spill prove to be detrimental in retrospect to the human and wild life communities, the oil spill also had a negative impact economically as well. According to an article written by David Butler and Edward Sayre at the University of Southern Mississippi, from May-August of 2010 they estimated revenue losses to be about 119,413,000 which is about a 5% decrease from the same time in 2009. Also, according to the article this estimate includes tourism as well as hotels and restaurants in those areas. This paper is intended to analyze the impact of the deep horizon oil spill on the economy.
On April 20, 2010, a massive offshore drilling rig, known as the Deepwater Horizon, exploded and set fire. The results were devastating. Eleven people lost their lives, and approximately seventeen were injured (“BP Oil Spill Timeline”). The explosion caused oil pipes to rupture and spill thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The BP oil spill has since turned into one of the worst disasters in recent memory. The damage that it has caused is insurmountable, and it has taken its toll on a wide range of people (Walsh). Making Matters worse, the spill has spawned many controversies (Lustgarten). The question, however, remains the same: Why did this happen in the first place?