The BP oil disaster has highlighted our quest for oil and how much influence oil companies have over politics. The disaster was easily preventable, however BP wanted to increase production. There were factors that led to the disaster. First of all, drilling this deep was never attempted and there wasn't an official protocol in case there was something wrong with the drill on the seafloor. There was also two major problems with the blowout preventer. The rubber gasket that would automatically plug up the leak was broken and the manual override was not responding. This led to BP attempting to figure a solution. This lasted for months, meanwhile millions of gallons of oil was leaking from the seafloor. There is also evidence that BP overworked its workers and told them to keep working even though they new that the safety precautions were malfunctioning. Like the Exxon Valdez, this event transformed American policy and has forever changed the Gulf of Mexico.
Although the Deepwater Horizon disaster was quite horrendous, it could have been much worse. Scientists were worried that oil was going to be picked up by the gulf stream and possible contaminate a large portion of the East Coast. Much more action would have been taken against BP if this occurred. BP was ordered to clean up and did a atrocious job. This issue has largely been silence, however the gulf will never be the same again. BP sprayed a chemical to suspend the oil that makes it seem like the water is clear. In fact it has only made the situation worse. Life at all levels of the Gulf are now killed off. Stronger laws should be implemented in order to hold companies more responsible for their actions.
