Buy essay on Economic Impact of The Gulf Oil Spill

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred on April 22, 2010. The oil platform of BP Company, situated in 210 km to the south-east of New Orleans (Louisiana), sank after 36-hour burning due to the facilities’ detect. As a result of the accident, 11 of the 126 people working on it died. According to Mexican ecologists, about 210,000 gallons of oil continue to disembogue daily from the drilled wells at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.
The surface of the pollution in the Gulf continues to grow, and oil is already found on the unprotected wetlands in the south of Louisiana. Surely, oil is capable of causing considerable damage, especially when it is mixed with water, creating a sort of foam, keeping the surface and able to travel at considerable distances. Scientists make the assumption that oil can get into the circulation of the Gulf and cause enormous damage to the entire Atlantic coast (Dell’Amore). Further, the paper discusses the most possible effects of this oil spill on the economy.
Some experts have already managed to put forward their apocalyptic predictions, drawing a very bleak picture in which 1000 miles of wetlands and beaches appear in the danger of the destruction and are not to be restored, while fishing industry is destroyed for many years, rare and fragile species of fauna disappear, and the entire region with its economy is paralyzed for a long period (Broder A1). The specialists from the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies in Corpus Christi predict that the damage to economic activities and services, including tourism, fisheries, and even less tangible things, such as protection from storms provided by marsh areas, may be significant, approximately amounting to 1.6 billion dollars (Marte).
First of all, the oil slick could inflict damage to the fishing industry of Louisiana, which is one of the key industries in this region of the United States. Experts estimate the turnover in the industry at 660 million dollars annually (U.S. Office of the Press Secretary). The sellers of fresh fish have already felt the change; however, despite the disastrous consequences for local producers and suppliers of seafood, experts believe that the country’s supermarkets will be easily filled by imports (Broder A1).
Actually, most Americans buy products in supermarkets and do not visit fish markets. According to Gavin Gibbons from the National Fisheries Institute, the average American supermarket visitors might not notice the effects of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, because the supply of seafood has long become a global business. More than 83 percent of seafood is imported, including 90 percent of all species of shrimps. So, although the seafood from the Gulf of Mexico has a special status and is in great demand, in general, big food networks will not come across serious problems with suppliers (U.S. Office of the Press Secretary).
At the same time, not large supermarkets and chain restaurants, but first of all, small businesses will greatly suffer from the accident in the Gulf of Mexico. After a leak of oil in Mississippi and Louisiana, several oyster farms were closed and the price of oysters at the fish markets has doubled (Walsh). Today, sellers worry that soon the price for them will get so high that buyers will have to refuse from them. The price of shrimps from the Gulf of Mexico was increased by 50 cents per kilogram, and the price of valuable fish species such as king mackerel, tomcod and snapper, may also increase greatly (Dell’Amore).
The analysts are mostly concerned that the ocean current can draw away an oil slick from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, where much of the available seafood is found. Experts warn that such development of the situation will put not only the maritime industry Gulf of Mexico at risk. The U.S. government has already imposed a temporary ban on private and commercial fishing in the area of oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The ban was announced on May 2 for at least 10 days, after which the authorities plan to take further decisions on the matter (U.S. Office of the Press Secretary).
The collapse of the BP oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico may also have politico-economic implications; Barack Obama may review his decision on cancelation of the moratorium on oil and gas exploration on the continental shelf of the country, adopted in 1990 under President George HW Bush after the massive oil spill Alaska because of the crash of the tanker Exxon Valdez (U.S. Office of the Press Secretary). The statement by the President on the admission of oil companies for exploration and development of the US offshore was only the beginning of the process.
The main objective of the new energy strategy proposed by Barack Obama in late March is to reduce the dependence on imported oil and create new jobs. The United States is the largest importer of oil in the world market (3.3 billion barrels in 2009). The President’s plan provides the authorization to develop oil and gas fields 80 km away from the coast of Virginia. According to the US Geological Survey, the stocks in this region were estimated at 130 million barrels of oil and 34 billion cubic meters of gas. It has been also proposed to open for the development a part of shelf area in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, 200 km from the coast of Florida (Walsh; U.S. Office of the Press Secretary)
Chairman of the Agency for the Protection of the Environment, Carol Browner believes that the U.S. administration must take into account the current incident when evaluating proposals to develop offshore fields. It will also directly affect the Congress approval of the development of the shelf area in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (Marte).
In general, the accident at Deepwater Horizon is not unprecedented and is not yet included in the number of the most serious oil disasters in history. The Gulf recovered after the leak on the platform Ixtoc 31 years ago (and this was the second biggest oil spill in history). Three years after the accident a little visible trace of the spill was left near the Gulf Coast, which was then redoubled by the fact that several months after the leak in the Gulf a tanker crashed and 2.6 million more gallons of oil flowed into the sea. A biologist Dokken remarks that the Gulf has a remarkable capacity to recover. However, the scientists have no answer to the question of how long the Gulf can withstand such an outrage and how strong its ability to restore itself is (Broder A1).
The final impact of oil spill will be largely dependent on the long list of interrelated and variable factors, including weather, ocean currents, the properties of spilled oil, the success or failure of desperate attempts to stop the leakage and eliminate its consequences. In fact, experts believe that it is just the tip of the iceberg, and the disaster is yet at an early stage, and further a lot of consequences may emerge, along with the mass of enhanced direct and adverse effects.
But the damage can be largely prevented if the various methods used by BP and government experts bring the desired result in the nearest future. The wind subsides and the sea calms down, which allows intensifying the work over removal of oil film and resuming the controlled burning of oil on the surface. Technicians from BP are trying to introduce dispersants into the deep water, which can reduce the impact on marine life. At the same time the winds and currents can draw the lumps of oil emulsion away from the coast, where there are shellfish and crustaceans (Dell’Amore).
Thus, experts believe that the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico will have a negative impact on the economy of the southern U.S. states, a significant portion of the proceeds of which is traditionally made by the incomes from the fishing industry, restaurant business and tourism. Due to the situation, about 150 thousand people in the state can lose their jobs being previously involved in the restaurant business, as well as fishermen who have contracts with the catering facilities about supplying them with daily fresh seafood. According to Mexican media quoting an insurance company Jupiter, elimination of the effects of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, which happened because of the emergency situation on Deepwater Horizon, will require 4.6 billion dollars. The losses from the disaster, according to the recent data, are likely to cost from 14 up to 20 billion dollars.

Works Cited:

Broder, J. and Zeller, T. Jr. “Gulf Oil Spill Is Bad, but How Bad?” New York Times 4 May 2010: A1. Print.
Dell’Amore, C. “Gulf Oil Spill a “Dead Zone in the Making”?” National Geographic 4 May 2010.