Case Study 8: Gulf Oil Spill Aftermath
In her case study, the author Emily Ahonen (n.d) makes us revisit the gulf oil spill that took place on April 20, 2010. She begins the paper by giving us a brief background about the Gulf oil spill and how it went on to become the largest spill in the history of U.S. The drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon, is believed to have exploded due to “a series of safety, regulatory, and oversight problems” (Ahonen, n.d.). As stated by the National Oil and Hazardous Substance Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) of 1994, the Gulf spill was declared a spill of national significance after nine days of disaster. The NCP held the responsible party, British Petroleum, accountable for the costs related to response efforts.
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There were a lot of cleanup workers and volunteers who were working to elevate the chaotic and unsafe situation. Some the things that should be considered when thinking about health and safety of the volunteers and cleanup workers are first and foremost the potential risks in the department that they are working in. For clean up workers, that could be the level of toxic waste that they could be exposed to while in the field. The responsible parties should brief the people who are involved as cleanup workers, researchers, volunteers and even visitors about the possible toxicological effects which could cause damage to their respiratory system, neurological system, as well as cause damage to other functions of the body. Furthermore, since the area was hot and humid, the responsible party should also adopt ways to make clean up efforts easier as well as not over work the hired crew members. In terms of making various considerations to people involved in relief efforts, in my personal opinion, I think the responsible parties and the government should provide better health insurance packages for people working closely with affected area. I think it is imperative to do so because they are the ones exposing themselves to potential health issues both mentally and physically in the
On April 20, 2010 off the Gulf of Mexico, there was a blowout of the Macondo well which is owned by British Petroleum also known as BP. When the blowout took place it got immediate media attention because aspects of the event were known over the world. Within events transpiring it was discovered how limited the resources and reaction to the disaster was going to be. This paper will detail aspects of the event from symptoms of the problem, the root cause, important unresolved issues, roles of the organization’s key players and stakeholders, and explain the focus of specific ethical systems. Also discussed in this paper are relevant strategies and alternatives, the effect of globalization
The oil spills of the3 late 80’s, enlivened basic authoritative change, the OPA 90 law, and a historic point case on corrective harms in the Supreme Court of the USA. The USA chose to build up its own administration to manage incidental oil contamination of the oceans as opposed to joining the worldwide law administration. The global law administration, which is less thorough than the US law, covering just delivering oil slicks, has worked sensibly well concerning over 140 occurrences of oil contamination in the course of recent years. The US law and the universal administration contrast above all as for two disputable issues unadulterated monetary misfortune harms and common asset harms. The Deepwater Horizon oil debacle in the Gulf of Mexico will test the OPA 90 American law. The Deepwater Horizon case will last many many years and will probably deliver point of interest decisions in the range of marine contamination. Each administration has been conceived to a great extent self-governing. In any case, near study and assessment of the two administrations is educational and helpful. Each administration may take in and advantage from the experience of the other.
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.
On April 20th 2010 an explosion on an oil ridge of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, was the cause of the greatest environmental disaster in history of the United States. This explosion took the lives of eleven men who were working on the ridge, and also ruptured an oil line, which dumped more than 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill significantly affected the wildlife of the gulf coast, killing hundreds of fishes, birds, and reptile that call the gulf coast home. The spill also affected global supply chain for major industries.
This essay will discuss the long lasting effects on the economy from the explosion on the DeepWater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The events that took place on April 20, 2010 would go down in history as the worst deep sea oil spill in history. British Petroleum would suffer its greatest lost to date when one of its drilling rigs the Deepwater Horizon would blow up in the Gulf of Mexico (Crandall, Parnell & Spillan, 2014). In the days and weeks following the explosion there were signs of a problem that were overlooked after test came back inconclusive on one of the pressure systems.
The Ocean Ranger was an offshore exploration oil drilling platform that sank in Canadian waters 315 kilometres southeast from St. John's Newfoundland, on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland on February 15, 1982, with 84 crewmembers onboard. The Ocean Ranger was the largest semi-submersible, offshore exploration, oil drilling platform of the day. Built in 1976 by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, it operated off the coasts of Alaska, New Jersey, Ireland, and in November 1980 moved to the Grand Banks. Since it was so big it was considered to have the ability to drill in areas too dangerous for other rigs. The government thought it was unsinkable, so they felt that there was no need to train a crew very well.
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
King, Rawle O. 2013. Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Disaster. 1st ed. [Place of publication not identified]: Bibliogov.
BP oil spill is ranked as the largest environmental disaster in the world history. As the oil from BP spill washes ashore, people on Gulf Coast are suffering huge damages they have never met before. The U.S. government estimates that up to 60,000 barrels of oil a day are spewing out from the damaged BP drilling rig to Gulf of Mexico. It has ruined the shoreline, killed animal and sea life, threaten the ecosystem and harmed the tourism and fishing in Louisiana. After the spilling happened, US government and BP has been struggling for plugging the hole deep under the water which is known as Top-kill, but failed. Right after the leak happened, the Obama administration has claimed that BP alone has to take the whole responsibility of the oil
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.
This paper will explain some of the effects of three legal issues and three ethical issues surrounding the London-based British Petroleum Company’s involvement in the explosion of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico. There are many legal issues surrounding this disaster, but the three this paper will focus on are the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, maritime laws, and criminal charges
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, located in the Gulf of Mexico exploded killing 11 workers and injuring 17. The oil rig sank a day-and-a-half later. The spill was referred to as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP oil spill, Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and BP oil disaster. It was first said that little oil had actually leaked into the ocean but a little over a month later the estimate was 12,000-19,000 barrels of crude oil being leaked per day. Many attempts were made to stop the leak but all failed until they capped the leak on July 15, 2010, and on September 19 the federal government declared the well “effectively dead.” In the three months that it took to finally put a stop the leak, 4.9 million barrels of oil were
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,
Recently, oil spill management has become a serious concern and subsequently, it has become a big issue as it takes a large, specifically trained team effort to solve the devastating problem. It also requires consistent efforts of the workforce. The Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico was perhaps another major contributing factor to highlighting the need for Oil Spill Management to be addressed. The director of the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement, Michael Bromwich stated that this oil spill proved that oil and gas organizations were not prepared to deal with oil spills. (Merolli, 2010).
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).