Gulf Oil Spill

Oil covered everything: beaches, animals, plants, bottoms of boats. Approximately 205.8 million gallons of oil leaked into the ocean and toward the Louisiana shoreline. To put the amount in perspective, that oil could be used to drive a Toyota Prius around the earth 184,181 times (Repanich). All of this pollution and destruction because of one singular company: British Petroleum. Needless to say, the image of BP was tarnished because of this. What can a company do to come back from such a serious setback? This was the question that was faced by the company in 2010 (when the spill occurred), and is still being wrestled with today. By analyzing BP’s “Commitment to the Gulf” ad campaign, the brand’s desired identity is made very apparent. When it comes to oil, nearly all consumers are involved. However, BP does take specific steps in order to narrow down a target audience when it comes to advertising its product. Despite the hardships faced by BP stemming from the spill, consumers still have an addiction to oil. BP, the fourth largest oil company in the world (“Biggest Oil”), has such a firm hold on consumer society that it is a necessity in today’s consumer landscape. By pushing the brand’s identity to its target audience, BP used branding to overcome a severe controversy and rebuild the image it hoped to convey to consumers.

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.

As Drew Griffin states “The federal government estimated 4.2 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf, but BP argued in court that it was much lower. A judge ruled BP was responsible for the release of 3.1 million barrels. (Griffin, 2015) Regardless of the amount look what damage it has done and the many lives that are affected by this disaster. Many say for 87 days in a row due to an uncapped wellhead lead to this disaster. The loss of money, family seafood business, town tourist revenue, were affected by the oil spill. As Allbusiness eidotors states “For Voisin and other fishermen, the spill couldn’t have come at a worse time. “Processing plants are idle and we are in middle of spring larval season,”

Imagine 2,500 to 68,000 square miles covered in 4.9 million barrels of oil. No, imagine being covered in 4.9 million barrels of oil. Picture yourself gasping for air in an ocean filled with oil. That is exactly what birds, sea turtles, dolphins, and other animals had to do after the most catastrophic oil spill of all time occurred on April 20, 2010.

How did the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 affect our economy and environment, and what does the future hold, with regard to the environment, oil drilling, and sustainability?

To begin, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill was a man-made environmental disaster that occurred in 1989. On March 24, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck Bligh Reef and spilled 260,000 barrels of crude oil into the waters of Prince William Sound in Alaska (Piatt, Lensick, Butler, Kendziorek & Nysewander, 1990). Eventually, this oil spread across 30,000 km² of water, damaging ecosystems and marine life along the way (Piatt, 1990). Evidently, this oil spill is considered to be one of the most destructive man-made environmental disasters in history (Dimdam, 2013).

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

Only five years ago thousands of birds, dolphins, and sea turtles were washing up on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico slicked and smothered by oil. The explosion of British Petroleum's Macondo oil rig off the coast on Louisiana was the largest environmental disaster to have occurred in the United States. This well leaked over 130 million gallons of light crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, destroying habitats and killing massive amounts of wildlife. Over eighty-seven days the oil spread through the water in a 21 mile plume, creating oil slicks on the surface of the water. Oil within the Gulf caused alarming short-term effects to wildlife in the initial days of the spill, but as these short term effects begin to disappear, BP was quick to claim

The Gulf Oil Spill was one of the worst oil spills in US History. It took place on April 20, 2010. It happened about 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana, in the Gulf Of Mexico, and by the Deepwater Horizon. About 672, 000 gallons (3.19 million barrels) of oil was dropped into the ocean. Common names for it include: the Louisiana Oil Spill, Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, and BP Oil Spill.

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 BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill was one of the worst spills occurred in the history of the oil industry because the way it was carried out and the way it occurred. The had affected the people worldwide it’s didn’t just affect the people who were onboard or the company because had effects on the environment, share prices were dropping, the company had to pay huge amount into the fines to the governments and also, they had to pay huge amount to clean the gulf water and the affected shore area. The total amount BP spend in fines was about the $56.4 billion. This spill was worse than the spill occurred in Exxon Valdez because it damaged the shoreline of four states threatening more than 65000 acres of land to be damaged. Over 8000 animals

Oil spills are a worldwide issue- widely known for polluting the oceans, infecting plant life, and killing many different species of animals. In fact, during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, approximately 205.8 million gallons of oil was pumped into the Gulf of Mexico (“A Deadly…” 2011). Over 82,000 birds, 6,165 sea turtles, and around 25,900 different species of marine mammals were either harmed or killed because of The Deepwater Horizon spill (“A Deadly…” 2011). Not only are oil spills a huge biological issue, the mere production of oil has a negative effect on many ecosystems: contaminating oceans, air, soil, and killing many species of flora and fauna.

A major example of our failure to learn from the past was the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which happened on 20 April 2010. The whole explosion which devastated the oil platform caused 11 deaths. These deaths could have been prevented if BP Oil, the operators of the platform, had only heeded the lessons of the past.

Oil spills have been a major environmental problem that can be hard to detect and expensive to clean up. Since 1969 there have been at least 44 major oil spills of over 420,00 gallons that have had an affect on waters in the United States (Response.restoration.noaa.gov, 2015) The most recent devastating major oil spill was the 2010 Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling rig. Nearly 125 million gallons of oil was released into the Gulf of Mexico that wreaked havoc on local economies and wild life with effects that are still lingering to this day (Elliott, 2015). One part of dealing with a major oil spill, such as the Deepwater Horizon, is figuring out how much oil is involved and researches at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences (VIMS) have developed a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that is capable of gauging the volume of oil spilled by measuring the thickness of an oil slick (Malmquist, 2015).

In 2010 British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oilrig1 suffered a devastating explosion that resulted in the death of 11 workers and initiated the largest marine oil spill the world had or has ever seen (Pallardry). This spill also became the largest offshore environmental disaster in United States history (Elliot). Over 200 million gallons of crude oil were pumped into the Gulf of Mexico (Hoch), polluting over 16,000 coastal miles in the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas (Mackey). The spill and subsequent coastal pollution impacted the environment negatively, causing harm to natural resources and especially wildlife, the affects of which are still being witnessed today (Elliot). The surrounding