2010 was a year marked by the world’s largest accidental marine oil spill. BP (British Petroleum), a company that was, at one point, known as a leading gasoline company, will forever be remembered for the destruction caused by one of its oil rigs. The Gulf of Mexico, and surrounding areas, were directly affected by the wellhead blowout that caused an economic downturn. The spill occurred on April 20, 2010 and was not officially sealed until September of 2010. The continuous leak caused massive damage to marine life, human life (claiming 11 lives), and to the economy in the affected regions. People were out jobs, marine life was at a stand still, overall life near the Gulf of Mexico took a turn for the worse. It took several visits from the nation’s leaders, numerous attempts to cap the leak, and long grief stricken months to come out with a viable solution.
BP’s response to the matter was less than satisfying to the public, which led many citizens in to their competitor’s arms so to speak. “No single factor caused the Macondo well tragedy. Rather, a sequence of failures involving a number of different parties led to the explosion and fire which killed 11 people and caused widespread pollution in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year.”
It was almost as though BP was trying to pawn of the blame to anyone other than themselves. While understandable that they were trying to protect themselves and their business, this was not the time or place to do so. In situations such as these, the best way to ‘get in front of it’ is to deal be accountable for your actions. Had BP handled the matter differently and showed genuine care and concern for people other themselves, I would not be currently boycotting anything that has to do with them!
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill#Containment
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/disaster_unfolds_slowly_in_the.html
http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968&contentId=7064893