Bp Oil Spill

BP OIL SPILL
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BP OIL SPILL
Fact
On 20 April 2010, a gas release and an ensuing explosion happened on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig working on the Macando exploration well that belonged to BP in the Gulf of Mexico. The deepwater Horizon Oils Spill or just BP Oil Spill is considered one of the worst oil disasters the world has ever known. The facts and statistics that made the disaster what it is are horrifying. The Oils Spill saw more than 200 million gallons of crude oil pumped into the Gulf of Mexico continually for 87 days, which made it the biggest oil spill in the history of America. The oil spill affected an expansive 16,000 miles of the coastline, spreading to the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida (Bergin, 2011).
The fire burned for approximately 36 hours then the rig sunk this saw the hydraulics leak into the Gulf of Mexico. The gushing well was covered in July 2010, the oil was however still washing up on the shores, alarmingly, and this situation had the likelihood of causing long-term detrimental effects on the people living around. A large part of the Louisiana 400 mile coastline was affected with 125 miles polluted by the oil spill. Over 8,000 birds, mammals and turtles reportedly died in just 6 months after the spill, what is more worrying is that many of those are those classified as endangered species. The direct impact on wildlife includes oil-coated sea turtles and birds, mammals consuming the oil; there was also dead or dying deep sea carol (Benoit, 2011).
The initial oil rig explosion was responsible for the death of 11 people who were workers on the site, and injuries of 17 others. Responding to the disaster, President Obama announced that his government would institute a $20 billion spill response fund. The response teams used 5.5 million feet of boom; a special barrier that was placed in water to collect and absorb the oil (Benoit, 2011).As at 2012, two years later, the gulf was still polluted with oil.
Many lawsuits against BP and the other parties Halliburton, Transocean and Cameron, have been filed. For efficiency the lawsuits were consolidated into what became multidistrict litigation (MDL) before Louisiana Judge Carl Barbier for the pretrial. The federal statutes set the damages that were available to those who underwent physical and economic injury occasioned by the spill; they also set forth the procedures that the claimants were to adhere to so as to recover damages (Benoit, 2011).
Issue
Whether parties acted ethically in safety measures to prevent the Deep-water Horizon explosion? BP had chosen to take the reactive approach in the management of safety issues. It was only after it was compelled by the government agencies that BP made a commitment to take some action. The government agency had carried out an inspection of the company`s refinery in Toledo, Ohio and realized that there was a problem with the pressure-relief-valves. With this information, it ordered BP to have the valves fixed. Two years later, on a follow up inspection found that indeed BP had carried out the repairs as was required, but it was only on the valves that had been cited as faulty by OSHA. The inspectors found the same defect elsewhere in the BP refinery. More fixes were thus ordered and a fine of $ 3 Million imposed. However, relying on government agencies for identification of defects and safety issues is not an option for companies which actually have more knowledge on their system that the government. BP had failed to inspect the stretch of its pipeline for over a decade before it broke down. It failed to conduct the 2003 inspection saying that the pipe was covered in snow; however, there was no effort to carry out the safety inspection after the snow was clear. What is certain in this BP case is that they were more concerned about cost than safety, therefor...