The BP Oil Spill which occurred in the year 2010 was both a national and international tragedy. On the 20th of April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon by British Petroleum exploded and spewed oil into the ocean. The spill occurred as a result of three major cracks that occurred in the rig. In a short period, the spill became equal to the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. The spill ravaged various sections of the United States such as Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. It also affected the coastline of Mexico, Cuba, and the Caribbean. The nature and severity of the crisis were anticipated and BP handled the crisis both correctly and wrongly.
The severity of the oil spill was caused by its significant effects on the environment. The oil spill affected 25 million birds which were migrating and 400 species. Apart from hurting the bird population, the underwater population was affected significantly. The oil spills affected the marine life by clogging their respiratory systems and causing suffocation. The resultant impact of the oil spill is that it would affect the entire ecosystem and food chain. The surrounding regions of the ecosystem were also affected.
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What raised huge concerns was that the most of the things which were critically affected were probably not seen. The oil affected the depths of the ocean which is not seen by men. Many people were also affected as a result of the oil spill due to the loss of jobs. There was an indirect effect of reduced tourism leading to thousands of people losing the jobs (Ritchie, 2014). Fishing activity in the coastline went to a halt. Many people engaged in fishing thus lost their jobs as the waters became affected.
BP was able to handle the crisis correctly through several strategies and procedures. One thing they did was to help the people who were affected by giving them money. They provided millions of dollars to people in states such as Mississippi and Florida that lived directly at the Gulf Coast. The funds were later used on tourism campaigns and advertising in order to rebuild the tourism sector which had been affected by the oil spill.
BP managed the crisis well as they engaged in different ways and procedures that would clean the beach. They made use of methods such as Beach Techs, Sand Sharks, and Sand Mans to get the tar out. All these methods are an attempt by BP to make up for their mistakes by cleaning up the water. BP has focused on making sure that the water is clean so that the plant and animal life in the surrounding regions can live in their habitats comfortably. BP also handled the crisis correctly by setting up aside an amount for claims and lawsuits filed against them. They were able to set aside $20 billion for tourism and leisure businesses that would file compensation claims.
One thing that BP did wrong in handling the situation was that it neglected the situation and failed to fix it when it first occurred. This had caused BP to become fined $20 million for the neglect of leaks in a pipeline at Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay. A company which would have been prepared in handling crisis situations accurately should have owned up to its mistakes and checked all its pipelines to ensure that they were working accurately.
BP made another mistake of being adamant to take the situation seriously and take corrective actions. BP was able to drill a relief well only after the government had insisted. The relief well would be a better solution as it would intersect with the original well and pull up the oil so as to dump more mud and concrete and make it retire for good. The refusal to compensate those in the Mississippi oyster business was also wrong action by BP. The oysters in the Mississippi River would be highly affected since oil from the Gulf Coast was flushed through the river. BP felt that the oysters were not affected by the oil and they saw no need to fund or seed the oyster farms.
In conclusion, the BP oil spill was a tragic disaster that affected the entire ecosystem. The environment was hurt, businesses went down, and many people lost their jobs. While BP did not handle the crisis at the start correctly, they tried to undo their wrongs and managed to handle the entire situation well. They made compensations that ran into millions of dollars to undo their wrongs. The entire experience serves as a learning experience on both the prevention and handling of any crisis.
Reference
Ritchie, B. W., Crotts, J. C., Zehrer, A., & Volsky, G. T. (2014). Understanding the effects of a tourism crisis: The impact of the BP oil spill on regional lodging demand. Journal of Travel Research , 53 (1), 12-25.
