warning signs about the danger of the rig that eventually led to the deaths of 11 workers. The government also indicted former BP Vice President David Rainey on charges of hiding key information from Congress and lying to other law enforcement individuals about the real damage done to the Gulf oil spill. Rainey and Kaluza were eventually acquitted of the charges while Vidrine plead guilty and was sentenced to 10 months of probation (Stempel). There was public outcry over the lack of severe consequences for the BP employees involved, but this was not the end of legal issues for BP.
In December 2012, BP settled a class-action lawsuit with over 100,000 claimants largely made up of individuals and businesses that lost money and property because of the spill. BP initially estimated $7.8 Billion in damages for the class-action, but that number would grow due to $9.2 Billion by 2013. February 2013, the U.S. Federal Government and several state governments began a three stage civil trial to determine the breakdown of blame between BP, Transocean Ltd. (who owned the drilling rig),
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The immediate oil spill killed thousands of marine animals and put numerous endangered species at risk. The effect of oil in the Gulf translated to serious economic implications in the geographic area affected by the spill, with industries like commercial fishing and tourism adversely affected the greatest. The National Academy of Sciences determined that commercial fishing production decreased by 20% in the wake of the spill. Tourism and rental revenue decreased by 25% along areas affected by the oil spill (Brennan). BP spent billions of dollars in cleanup costs to mitigate the damage done to wildlife species to restore fisheries in the area and close to $200 million promoting tourism in the Gulf
In 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, causing millions of barrels of crude oil to be leaked out into the Gulf of Mexico. The extensive oil spill created a lot of pollution and far-reaching effects on the tourism industry. The resultant damage to marine wildlife such as fish will continue to be felt for many years to come. Weeks after the event, and while it was still in progress, the Deep Water Horizon oil spill was being discussed as a disaster that will impact global economies, markets, and mining policies. The potential consequences included structural shifts in energy policy, insurance marketplaces and risk assessment, and financial liabilities to be incurred by BP. The law that affected the operation of BP’s business was the Clean Water Act, which regulates the discharge of pollutants in US’s waters (EPA, 2008). Following the oil spill, regulations have been put in place to regulate oil drilling operations. The Obama administration proposed new regulations on offshore oil and gas drilling. The regulation focused on oil and gas drilling companies to use stronger blowout Preventers that have the capability to close an offshore well in case a drilling breach occurred accidentally.
In an article posted by CNN, it is revealed that "BP was ruled responsible for the release of 3.1 million barrels" (Griffin et al). The process of removing the oil is in progress, but there is still a magnitude of oil to be cleaned up. This disaster did not only affect the environment, but it also affected the workers involved. It is also mentioned in the article that eleven workers died. The disaster affected the lives of many people other than the oil rig workers, however. There have been some concerns about the quality of seafood being produced from the area, along with the health effects it had on the community. The New England Journal of Medicine mentions in their article that " Louisiana reported 415 self-identified health problems believed to be related to the Gulf oil spill" (Goldstein et al). The oil spill has had a profound effect on the gulf coast community and will continue to for many years to come. Hopefully, this horrible event can be a lesson for the future, so that more precautions are taken to benefit nature and
The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill occurred on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill was the largest spill in history in front of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. This oil spill released about 4.9 million barrels of oil into the ocean. This spill not only wreck havoc on the marine life but also the economic players that depended on ocean such as fisherman, tourism, and offshore drilling located along the gulf coast. Along will the spill the oil rig which was named Deepwater Horizon also went up in flames. This proved that the issue went far beyond just an oil rig that blew a line. Since this oil spill had drastic impacts all along the coast, BP which was the most liable for this incident faced criminal charges based on what happened. BP which knew the risks of deep ocean drilling failed to take the necessary safety procedures to reduce the risks of such incident occurring, thus was the reasoning behind placing most of the fault on them and not the other companies. The lack of regulatory oversight led to the issues and cost-cutting procedures opened the rig up to possible malfunctions like the one that occurred. During the spill into the gulf, BP sealed the well with cement which seemed to stop a majority of the oil from escaping the well. BP also recognized that the well was “dead” which was proven wrong when scientists still could conclude was leaking minor amounts of oil into the ocean. This spill not only proved to be harmful to the environment but also
BP Exploration and Production, Inc. (BP) (defendant) and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (Anadarko) (defendant) co-leased oil and gas rights in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) and co-owned a producing well on the leasehold. A blowout occurred in the well while Deepwater Horizon, a mobile offshore-drilling unit (MODU) owned by Transocean (defendant), was engaged in drilling operations on the well. Deepwater Horizon broke off the well and sank. As a result, oil flowed from the well, through what remained of the riser that had connected the well to Deepwater Horizon, and into the Gulf. The United States government (plaintiff) sought to impose joint and several liability on all defendants under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA), 33 U.S.C. §§ 2701-04, for the
BP was met with severe criticism for the ecological impacts of the oil spill, as the environment of Gulf of Mexico was completely damaged from the spill. The spill did not only bring about pollution to the marine wildlife but it also destroyed Gulf’s fishing and tourism industries. Like the effects on the physical environment, the social and economic environments were also affected. The waters of the Gulf of Mexico were closed due to pollution from the oil spill. As a result, recreational and commercial fishing were banned. The state of Louisiana closest to the oil well was greatly affected by the incident but the effects were as far reaching as the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Since fish, oysters and shrimps form an important
This article expresses its concern towards the aftermath of the BP Oil Spill in 2010, it’s totaled to have killed over a trillions of fish that were located in the gulf at that time. BP has been fine for such a heavy death of aquatic animals, sometime this month it was settled for BP to pay back $20 million dollars to the clean water act and mitigation. Because there was so many animals killed that were near the water there next move is making sure to reduce the risk to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
In addition, BP was convicted of a felony due to their violation of the Clean Air Act. The judge fined BP $50 million and put them on probation for three years. OSHA fined BP the largest fine in OSHA's history, $87 million due to two hundred seventy safety violations that they never fixed along with four hundred thirty nine new violations. Previously, twenty years preceding, BP partnered with Exxon in Alaska's Prudoe Bay oilfield when the Exxon Valdez oil spill occured. BP and Exxon shared the trans-Atlantic pipeline ownership which is referred to as Alyeska. Some important documents had been leaked to Congress and the news media, which stated Alyeska did not fulfill promises to contain spills. Chuck Hamel was the chief suspect in the leakage of the documents. Hamel had also complained to management at BP about corrosion of the pipes and concerns about the workers safety (Jennings, 2009, p 409). Hamel stated that "...workers were asked to skimp on the use of anticorrosion chemicals in the pipe because of expense." (Jennings, 2009, p 409). Hamel then proceeded to take his complaints
The Legal Issues and Ethical Effects of the Deepwater Horizon Explosion and British Petroleum Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010
When we look at the effect of the deepwater oil spill on other stakeholders, we see that they were impacted more negatively. There were 11 people killed and 17 were injured. Although the number of people in this group is small, losses of life and health weigh heavily on the scale as we assess the consequences of BP’s decision to forego the back-up switch.
These social responsibilities and many other ethical issues were realized by many people when on April 20, 2010 British Petroleum had a major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Also, known as the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, the BP Oil Disaster, the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, or the Macondo Blowout. BP was mostly at fault, but Transocean, the rig operator, and Halliburton, the contractor,
The effect of oil spill is usually calculated in terms of damage on the environment, aftermath on marine species, and effect on the tourism and fishery industries. The impact on human health is less known relatively. The financial costs associated with oil spills are also a factor. Arguably, it is a less serious consequence of an Oil Spill, however the financial costs have the potential to bankrupt an organization. BP suffered major financial loss as a result of the Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. They have paid up to $1.5 billion in an effort to settle various claims and compensation. (BP, n.d)
In its Annual General Meeting in 2011, BP faced protests against BP’s executive’s remunerations and voiced their injustice (Webb & McVeigh, 2011). Facebook pages such as “Boycott BP” and RIP Spongebob, who died in an oil spill cause of BP” have been set up by activists, and have garnered 847,730 and 468,157 likes respectively (Jarvis, 2010). Hence, the impacts on these stakeholders have varying degrees, but are nonetheless affected one way or another by BP’s mistake.
The BP Oil Spill An Introductory Background - One of the most controversial ecological disasters in recent history focused on multinational British Petroleum and their Gulf of Mexico Operations. The Deepwater Oil Disaster began on April 20, 2010 with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon Oil platform, killing 11, injuring 17. It was not until July 15th, however, that the leak was stopped by capping the wellhead, after releasing almost 5 million barrels (206 million gallons) of crude oil, or 53,000 barrels per day into the Gulf of Mexico. It was not until September 19th that the relief well process was complete and the U.S. Government, EPA, and Coast Guard agencies declared the well breach effectively stopped (Cavnar, 2010).
Updates to the BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill are that in May of 2010, BP and Transocean moved to have the cases against them consolidated. On August 2010, the Panel consolidated federal economic loss, environmental damage, wrongful death and personal injury lawsuit. On September 2010, the first hearing was held and was agreed that plaintiffs would compile a master complaint list that details all the different actions against the defendant companies and have it filed by December 2010. This was for new complaints to add their names to the list that qualified by the deadline of April 2011. On October 2010 a trial date was set for February 27, 2012. This is to be a non-jury trial to determine which company is to blame for the explosion
BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, is the third largest oil and gas producer in the world, producing almost 3.8 million barrels per day. BP was founded in 1908 by William Knox D’Arcy in London, United Kingdom. The company operates worldwide in several sectors of the oil and gas industry such as generating low carbon energy, moving oil and gas, and off and onshore oil and gas extraction (BP, 2014). However, the offshore Deepwater Horizon oil spill that happened on April 20th, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico was one of the greatest oil spills that took place in history. The disaster caused the loss of the lives of 11 workers, severely injuring 17 workers, and the aftermath had a great impact on the environment in the Gulf of Mexico.