BP: What’s the deal?

Recently, coverage of the BP oil spill seems to have somewhat fizzled. For those who are interested in what’s been happening, here’s the scoop.

The actual oil rig explosion on April 20 killed 11 people, and the substantial resulting leakage affected thousands of lives. Environmentalists were in an uproar as politicians concocted ideas of how to stop the leak.

Four months and 3.12 billion dollars later, the well head was finally filled with drilling mud, and the well was declared to be “in a static condition.” 

However, as of September 10, the process of plugging the well was still not completed. It wasn’t until September 8 that BP finally issued an official press release outlining the cause of the problem. The report states that “No single factor caused the Macondo well tragedy,” and that it was result of both human and mechanical errors.

By the time the leak was stopped, the oil spill had killed a documented 4,678 animals and put 400 species at risk. It also affected the health of hundreds of people living near the coast and cost the Gulf’s tourism industry inestimable amounts.

However, about 26 percent of the oil still remains in the water and will continue to affect the surrounding areas for some time.

On September 23, a federal court hearing in New Orleans opened litigation for the case against BP with trials scheduled to take place this winter.