BP Oil Spill – 5 Years On

Five years on from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf Coast, the area is now showing signs of recovery, proving that the catastrophic predictions made in the aftermath of the disaster never came to fruition. The disaster cost 11 lives, and allowed millions of gallons of oil to leak into the Gulf, damaging the local ecology and hitting tourism hard. It also landed BP with the largest fine of its kind for their negligence in the run up to the disaster – although the fine was capped at $13.7bn after it was determined they weren’t negligent in the aftermath. Read about BP’s plan to clean up the oil spill here: BP prepares plan for Shetland oil spill.

Five years on, reports on the condition of the area are varied – from BP’s PR team confirming the area is fully recovered and thriving, to independent reports saying the area is struggling to return to its former glory. The most obvious impact of any oil spill is on the local ecology, and the good news is, many reports are saying the local environment has made a full recovery and returned to its baseline condition, although certain species were hit hard.

This is a far cry from the diabolical predictions made in the aftermath of the disaster, with CNN meteorologist, Chad Myers reporting: “there will be tar balls all the way up the East Coast, all the way to Europe.” Thankfully, this wasn’t the case and a report from the NOAA commercial fishery landings confirmed that while there was a slump in catch-levels in the year of the spill, the levels bounced back in 2011 and remain strong to this day.

The departure of the marine life wasn’t the only cause for concern, as many predicted that the spill would have a negative impact on tourism in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. A survey carried out by Dun & Bradstreet in 2011 found that small businesses were hit the hardest, which was confirmed by Mark Bonn, a tourism industry expert and researcher at Florida State University. He said:  “Some of the mom and pop restaurants, gift shops, and the charter boat and watercraft rental businesses have really struggled, and many of them just didn’t make it.” Today, the outlook for the region is much improved after oil failed to make it to shores as predicted – in 2012, Reuters reported that the area had almost entirely recovered, largely with the help of money from BP.

The financial ramifications for BP have been far less favourable, with the disaster wiping 13% off their share price in the months following. BP has failed to make a full recovery following the event, despite attempts from the company’s PR team to assure the world that the area has healed. This has been met with suspicion more than anything else, and there have also been damning reports that BP attempted to hire top scientists in advance of the trial to prevent them being snapped up by the prosecution. While time may heal most things, it would seem that reputations are a little trickier to mend.

To find out what it takes to clean up an oil spill, read our article: Four Ways to Clean Up an Oil Spill.