Essay On BP Oil Spill

The BP oil spill, at an estimated 4.9 million barrels discharged, is the largest oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry (On scene coordinator report: Deepwater Horizon oil spill, 2011, pg. 33). In addition to the damage done to the environment, the spill also had severe impacts on minority communities in the areas affected. BP’s irresponsible actions lead to the closing of fishing waters, beaches and oil rigs overnight. The result of this was an end to the livelihoods of many in the affected area including fishermen and other local industries reliant on seafood. The closing of the beaches negatively affected business that rely on tourism and the moratorium on oil drill put in place after the spill put the people working on the remaining oil rigs out of a job, as well. In addition to the economic problems, the spill has also caused many physical and mental health impacts. Cleanup workers and residents have

One example of a BP initiative is the Vessels of Opportunity Program that allows local boat owners to assist with the cleanup efforts. Once a vessel is signed up for the program and the crew is trained, BP will call the vessel out when needed to help with the cleanup and the owner of the boat will be compensated. While this sounds like a good program for local fishers to get compensated given that their vessels can no longer be used for fishing, hiring local people who have been directly affected by the spill has not been a priority for BP and only 350 of the 5,000 boats participating in the program are from local Vietnamese fishers (Buchanan, 2012). In addition to this, BP has refused to provide masks or protective face gear to the crew of these vessels and the employment contracts to become part of the Vessels of Opportunity Program prevent sickened workers from speaking out (NAACP, 2010, pgs.