preview

The Effects Of The BP Oil Spill

Decent Essays

The BP oil spill happened on April 10th at approximately 11:50 am of the year 2010. The BP oil spill is one of the largest spills in the history of the U.S. and one of the largest unintentional spills in history. The oil in which was spilled was in the Gulf of Mexico. The spill did not only harm the environment, but 11 lives were taken in total from the spill. It took 87 days to clean up most of the oil.
The minimum penalty was $1,100 per barrel, while the maximum was $3,000 per barrel. The total price paid for the minimum was $5.39 billion, and the max was $14.7 billion. Although, some argued that the rate should have been as high as $4,300 per barrel. If that were the case, then it would be $21.07 billion. The settlement amount that was eventually paid was at a lower amount of $18.7 billion. The percent of the maximum fine that was paid was 89%. In order to get the percentage, you need to divide 18.7 billion by 21.07 billion and that equals 0.887, then round it to 89. Then, when you want to get the final amount, you have to add the highest and lowest terms and divide by two. So as the equations go, it would be $21.07 billion + $18.7 billion = $39.77 billion / 2 = $19.9 billion. The mid-range to the final amount of $18.7 billion, is $19.9 billion.
The price of the settlement at $18.7 billion was in fact too low. If you look at the number of people and animals affected by the spill, it is justified asking for a higher amount from BP oil company. Taking into consideration

Get Access