The BP Oil Spill One Year Later http://bit.ly/tHXps4

Article by John Schmon

It's already been a year since BP's disastrous oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico and it's amazing how well the company has recovered. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion was one of world's biggest environmental disasters, but recently the giant oil company has been showing significant profits again and it's stock price have mostly rebounded. It's also exploring new sites for oil wells around the globe and is even maneuvering for the opportunity to pursue other drilling sites in the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico, where it holds more leases then any other oil company.

This just goes to show how effectively the oil giant handled the tragedy, even though many residents of the Gulf Coast aren't happy about the companies continued success. Although BP made some additional blunders early after the the crisis, it began making positive steps after replacing many of it's higher ranking executives and hired an outside company to handle the compensation claims for victims. Their decision to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to help Gulf communities, help rig workers who are out of work and support environmental research in the Gulf has also aided this recovery.

Doing better but not out of danger yet.

Although BP has made substantial strides in recovering they aren't out of the woods yet. Several of their employees could still be found criminally negligent for the over two hundred million gallons of oil that the U.S. government says leaked in to the ocean after the incident and for the 11 deaths that occurred when the Deepwater Horizon exploded. There are still hundreds of lawsuits plus criminal and civil fines that could still add billions of dollars to the already astounding cost of this disaster. In addition to the financial cost, the results of several on going investigations may further damage the company's already tarnished reputation. BP currently estimates that the oil spill will cost them at least forty billion dollars but it's attempting to make some of it's partners on the destroyed rig responsible for some of it.

Unfortunately, much that was affected by the massive oil leak isn't recovering as well as the oil giant. There is also lasting damage in much of the Gulf including hotels and resorts that have seen drastically less patrons, fishermen and oystermen that still are out of work and a severely damaged ecosystem both above and below the Gulf's water. Despite BP's often repeated promise to make people whole again, many of the worst hit victims don't believe it. It's been reported that the aid hasn't made near enough of a difference to make up for the lost lively hoods of so many people that depended on the Gulf for their survival.