Gulf Oil Spill

The Gulf Oil Spill

Loyd P. Cadwell

Abstract

The purpose of this research paper is to focus on the economic impact and their repercussions of what the oil spill has done to the Gulf Coast in terms of (1) the fishing industry, (the negative impact on fishing prices-and why they are declining, and the possible long-term effect; (2) the tourism industry, how people’s livelihoods as well as the community is getting tougher; and (3) the overall environment, how the wildlife on the land as well as under the ocean, is affected and how they can survive-long-term. Finally, there is one part of the economy that is doing great because of the oil spill: attorneys.

Keywords: economic impact and repercussions, Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Introduction

On April 20, 2010, approximately 50 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, owned by BP (British Petroleum) exploded, killing 11 workers, injuring 17 others (Dorfman & Fastenberg, 2010). A second explosion, two days later, sank the Deepwater Horizon to the bottom of the ocean. However, the initial explosion had caused an oil leak that was originally reported as no oil leak (April 23, 2010), has been changed several times to the present-day estimates that the leak is spilling approximately 2.5 million gallons a day.

As the spill drags on, Americans are becoming more and more frustrated with BP. They blame BP for the initial damage. However, many Americans are also dissatisfied with how President Obama and his staff are handling the crisis (over two thirds of the people are dissatisfied with the federal response). They feel he has not acted quickly enough; especially in light of what happened with Hurricane Katrina (Esterl, 2010).

(Special Note: On July 15, 2010, BP capped the oil leak. Whether this will be permanent, or just a temporary fix, remains to be seen.)

On June 20,...