The Government Should Grant Equal Access and Funding to Independent Researchers of the BP Oil Spill

The Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting oil spill has been widely considered as very destructive not only on the environmental habitat surrounding the Mexico gulf but also for the thousands of business establishments and residents that were affected by the incident. With the large volumes of oil that leaked into the sea, it is widely regarded as the largest oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and the one of the worst oil spill in the U.S. The extensive damage to wildlife and marine habitat has been a major concern to local residents, environmental experts and to the U.S. government itself.

Because of the major environmental disaster that is had caused, scientists are now scrambling to collect valuable data which will be used to determine the extent of the disaster and effect it will bring in the future. Although the oil blowout has been capped and the surface oil slick already been dispersed, there may still be the presence of toxic chemicals that has combined with sea water. These chemicals are a huge threat to the surrounding habitat and may disrupt the food chain. Scientists believed that despite of the successful cleanup operations, there are more work to be done in assessing the long term effect of the disaster.

But despite of the massive efforts of scientists to conduct research, there has been an unequal treatment with regards to funds, access to vital information and access to key locations in the gulf. Since the location of the oil spill is owned by BP, only those who are directly working for them or those who are working for the federal government’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment program are given enough funding and the privilege to access those important sites. Other independent researchers are discarded or have limited access to the research site.

The results of the numerous will be used to pursue the legal remedies that BP will be facing. Without proper transparency on these researches, expect a one-sided result which will surely favor BP. The results will be in total secrecy without uncovering the truth to the public. Independent scientists are now asking the government to grant them access to affected sites in order to conduct their own research and investigation on the disaster. Without the commitment to provide appropriate funding and vital access, the rehabilitation and restoration of the gulf will be in jeopardy.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Over 40,000 Claims Left Unpaid and Unattended

The Gulf of Mexico is a Mediterranean-type sea that is shared by the United States of America, Mexico and Cuba. It provides a wide array of valuable resources such as crude oil and natural gas which provides an ample amount of money to bordering nations. Aside from that, it also has a very abundant supply of commercial fishes such as shellfish and crabs as well. The Gulf has really contributed to massive revenue harbored by these nations.

On April 20, 2010, the once very productive sea is being threatened by a man-made disaster that is projected to be the worst in history. An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform and has been leaking not less than 5,000 barrels of oil per day. This catastrophic event has inflicted a massive environmental disaster which has also affected the revenues of businesses that are based on the Gulf.

Sheryl Lindsay is the owner of a wedding planner business which conducts beach-themed weddings in the Gulf. She reportedly received over 30 wedding cancellations which has greatly affected their income. Without a decent income and a monthly office rental payment, her business is well on its way to bankruptcy. She is just one of the 145,000 claimants who has lost their business since the oil spill and are now seeking for some assistance from BP.

BP claimed that it had released $324 million to pay every single claim from residents and business affected by the disaster. In contrast, frustrated claimants pointed out over 39,000 claims that have not been given attention yet. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood stated that the BP doesn’t deny them but instead just hold them forever. There are also problems with regards to who are eligible to these claims.

Hood also speculated that BP might just be waiting for the appointed administrator of the $20 billion compensation fund Kenneth Feinberg, to take over the claims distribution. He sees this as a major strategy in protecting the firm’s image. Through this, a denial of claim will be directly blamed to Feinberg instead of BP.

What is intriguing is when BP proudly stated that they haven’t rejected any claim yet. This is strongly opposed by residents of the area who claimed that they were rejected for various reasons. Is BP desperate to maintain a good image despite its already damaged reputation across globe? Whatever the motive is, BP should pay these people rightfully. The blame for such disaster must still be directed to BP as they were not able to maintain a safe working environment. They should be speeding up the process for claims as businesses are starting to crumble as days pass by.