BP stands for British Petroleum and is widely known for its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. This spill is seen as one of the largest, man-made disasters in the history of the United States with 4.9 million barrels of oil spilling from the Deepwater Horizon caused from the oil rig exploding into the Gulf. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill effected humans and wildlife, the environment, and the economy in a negative manner, all of which could have easily been prevented by British Petroleum.
According to science and environment reporter, Mark Kinver, the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig resulted in 17 workers being injured and 11 deaths. Three days were spent attempting to locate the dead worker's bodies, but they were never found. The exposure to the spilled oil caused many upper respiratory problems, rashes, and skin irritations for the members that worked the platform as well as those in the nearby area, (Kinver, 2011). Despite the injury to the workers, the oil spill impacted other aspects of the Gulf area. The explosion of the oil rig also damaged prices of real estate in the surrounding area, tourism, and the fishing industry. The oil spill led these different industries to close temporarily or caused the reduction of some of these businesses. That is why many people lost their jobs. The National Marine Fisheries Service indicated that during the peak time of closures, almost 37 percent of the Gulf of Mexico waters were closed for the harvesting and fishing of oysters and shrimps. This led to a severe decrease of seafood products being consumed in the region. The Louisiana Seafood Promotion Board stated that 70 percent of people that were asked in a study expressed concern about the seafood's quality that was coming from the Gulf of Mexico, (Cleveland, 2011). Other than the concern of the food by consumers, the environmental people involved had other concerns.
