Gulf Of Mexico Environmental Disasters

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.

With The Gulf of Mexico being the ninth largest body of water in the world, it is obvious that there may be a few environmental problems. The estuaries of The Gulf of Mexico are being destroyed and there is no one to point fingers at except ourselves. Estuaries provide humans with many uses and benefits such as a water supply, trading ports, agricultural support, sport and commercial fisheries, and even recreational uses for swimming or jet skiing. People from all over the world come to our city of Pensacola just to enjoy our beautiful gulf that we take for granted and treat horribly. Tourism in the gulf generates around $20 billion per year, while the waters yield about 1.51 billion pounds of fish and shellfish in 1996. In 1996, the Gulf of Mexico also contributed 57% of the entire oyster production in the United States.

The rich habitats of the Gulf of Mexico help make it one of the most ecologically and economically productive bodies of the water in the work. The meeting of land and sea along more than 16,000 miles of coastline from Texas to Florida creates a wealth of ecosystems (National Geographic Society, 2010). The dynamic mixing of saltwater and freshwater and the daily infusions of sediments from rivers nourish areas that provide habitat for wildlife and protection from pollution and storms (National Geographic Society, 2010).

Simply put, BP pretended like there wasn’t a problem in the way they were handling things, and when they came under fire they would lie about it or put the blame on someone else. What they did was they tried to control the message the public was giving them via a method known as ‘corporate greenwashing’, which is a way of giving off the perception that a company’s business model is environmentally friendly, so it can be thought of as putting more money towards advertising how green a company is instead of using it to pursue such practices that would make it so. BP gambled on this and ultimately lost when the Oil Spill occurred; rather than actively doing something about it, they blamed subordinates and contractors to try and take pressure off of themselves while simultaneously showing minimal regard to the impact that their mistake had on the environment. They only made the problem of them getting a bad reputation even worse when they weren’t listening to the public and ultimately paid the price, losing $80 billion and an additional $1.3 billion on criminal

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

The BP oil spill was one of the worst spills the US has seen. The BP oil spill dispersed millions of gallons of petroleum into the ocean as the oil rig exploded killing 11 workers. BP oil rig had various things malfunction due to BP not following proper protocol. Transocean employees were in charge of making sure all the gauges were correct. They also failed to report the failed negative pressure test that was ran instead they went along with the BP staff that was overseeing the project who stated everything was fine when it wasn’t. Halliburton urged BP to include “twenty one metal centralizing collars to stabilize the cement BP chose to use six instead.” BP was negligent and Halliburton did not stop them, they failed to put a cement seal around the well to close which in turn released gas into the well that caused the explosion. As a result the well didn’t shut down like it should’ve when the fire began even though attempts were made also the “5,000 foot pipe collapsed which leaked the oil into the ocean for 87 days”. The oil rig also burned for 2 days before sinking into the ocean. The BP oil spill has killed hundreds of animals some of them were endangered. The spill also caused problems with the ecosystem which caused fish

BP tends to make bets that others don’t which is most likely why the disastrous deep water horizon oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico five years ago. The fire burned for 36 hours while hydrocarbons leaked into the gulf before the well was sealed, unfortunately eleven individuals died. It has been difficult for BP to be the best company right now since this falling and they have been in reparation mode since this catastrophe. However, BP is now incorporating high safety and showed everyone that they are very reliable on the recovery of this hardship of BP trying to mix oil with water. BP came together to control the situation, cleanup, and diminish as much contamination as possible into the gulf. In addition, they are devoted long term to improve the Gulf of Mexico’s bionetwork and promise to be more careful so this will not happen again.

BP has had a long history of ethical and legal violations because BP chose to put profits above all else. In the past twenty years, BP subsidiaries were convicted of environmental crimes in Texas and Alaska. In addition, BP received the biggest fine in US history regarding safety violations. Although BP accepted responsibility, their record showed questionable and illegal behavior for twenty years. One of BP's major issues happened in a Texas refinery close to Galveston in 2005 (Jennings, 2009). This explosion took the lives of fifteen workers and injured five hundred people and caused residents nearby to become sheltered in their homes (Jennings, 2009). The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation board concluded that BP had

British Petroleum(BP) had a massive oil spill on April 20, 2010. In the BP Oil Spill, more than 200 million gallons of oil was spilled into the Gulf of Mexico for a total of eightyseven days, making it the biggest oil spill in United States history. The initial oil rig explosion killed eleven people and injured seventeen others(“11 Facts”). The spill killed hundreds of animal, plant life and destroyed the environment. BP was penalized up to $40 billion in fines. Stricter regulation on all forms of oil drilling are necessary to protect everyone and everything involved, especially the environment.

During the years, BP has had major occurrences in which their workers have been hurt or even not survived, triggering tremendous damage to the environment too. Primarily accidents started to happen during March 2005, when Texas City refinery experienced a chain of explosions slaying 15 and injuring 170 individuals. Another happening occurred during 2010 in form of an oil spill as some parts that the company was using on the oil rig, failed. The spill took 87 days, releasing 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This leak had a huge effect on the area’s wildlife. Numerous animals killed and their homes ruined.

We decided to look closer at BP’s (British Petroleum) oil spill crisis in 2010. It is British multinational oil and Gas Company, their headquarter is based on London, England. According to PFC Energy, it is the fifth-largest company in the world measured by revenues in 2012, and the sixth-largest in oil and gas industry if measured by production in 2012. BP’s annual report states that as of December 2013, BP operates in approximately 80 countries. On April 20, 2010 the explosion and sinking of Deepwater Horizon oil rig happened, it was located in the Gulf of Mexico. The well was finally capped on July 15, 2010. By that time an “estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil had leaked into the Gulf” (ocean.si.edu). This awful tragedy killed 11 people.

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).

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.

On April 20, the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico led to the largest accidental release of oil into marine waters in history. As a result, a huge loss of money and life was caused and affected serious environmental damage to wild animals and water pollution. BP was accused of their irresponsibility that it took 87 days before the well was closed and sealed. BP’s shares

Deepwater Horizon oil Spill: BP’s drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico had an explosion in April 2010, causing the “largest oil spill catastrophe in the petroleum industry history”. It caused the death of 11 men and injury to several others. “More than 150,000 barrels of crude oil gushed into the sea, every day, for almost 5 months and up to 68,000 square miles of the Gulf 's surface were covered” (1).