Sample final essays Fall 2010 English 1001
Score: 8
Catastrophe in the Gulf
On April 20, 2010, the United States experienced one of the worst oil spills anyone has ever witnessed. How did
we get to that point? Weeks prior to the devastation that occurred on that day, President Obama had announced a deep-
water drilling expansion in the Gulf which gave majority of the drilling lease to British Petroleum, BP. According to Carol
Browner, the White House environmental adviser, they did not look deep enough into BP‘s previous safety violations and
environmental accidents (Lustgarten). Regardless, BP got the job and started drilling deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico
about fifty miles from Louisiana‘s coast (Walsh). On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which was owned by
Transocean but leased to BP, exploded because a blowout preventer failed to activate causing a massive fire, leaving
eleven dead and seventeen injured (Walsh). At first, many people tried to downplay the significance of the spill, but the
truth about the severity of the situation would soon come out. A few days after the rig exploded, it was clear that the Gulf
of Mexico would be severely affected by this disaster. This angered many people along the coast, for they knew that their
everyday lifestyles would be affected as well.
Shrimpers and fisherman all along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico are getting fed up with the slow progress being
made to clean up our waters. Because of the spill, they are not catching as much as they used to and as a result, are losing
money. This creates a problem because seafood alone brings in an estimated 2.4 billion dollars to Louisiana‘s economy
yearly (Goidel and Kirzinger). As a result of these tough times, Gulf fisherman and shrimpers are starting to get annoyed
and are speaking their minds. Darla Rooks, a shrimp boat captain, stated this after a struggling day of shrimping, ―At one
point, I put a hangman‘s noose on the back rigging of the boat. I was ready to stick my head in it‖ (Yeoman). The growing
frustration is inevitable for those people who have been drastically affected by the spill. It is uncertain when the oil spill
will be completely cleaned up, but it is certain that if it does not happen soon, people like Darla will have to find an
alternate source of income which would not only hurt her financial stability, but Louisiana‘s economy as well.
Recent estimates show that the seafood industry occupies over 16,000 jobs in Louisiana (Goidel and Kirzinger).
Because of the struggles many fisherman and shrimpers are facing, seafood businesses are starting to feel the
consequences. In order to ensure people that the seafood is not contaminated in anyway, the NOAA and FDA announced
that they have a new chemical test which tests for dispersants in Gulf seafood (NOAA and FDA). However, a recent
survey was conducted which asked 924 coastal residents if they would still purchase seafood after the oil spill and 57.2
percent of those people said it was less likely (Goidel and Kirzinger). With the government stating that the incoming
seafood is clean and with residents still refusing to purchase it, how can we expect to compensate for that?
One major industry affected by the spill is tourism. Before the spill, it was one of the leading sources of income in
the Gulf region, bringing in billions of dollars yearly. In 2008 alone, tourism along the Gulf Coast brought in an excess of
thirty-four billion dollars (Oxford Economics). That number is expected to decrease dramatically. In a recent survey that
was conducted a month after the oil spill, twenty-six percent of those people who planned to visit Louisiana had either
postponed or canceled their trip. In another survey conducted two months after the spill, seventeen percent of those people
who had planned on visiting Florida, Mississippi, or Texas had canceled or postponed their trip (Oxford Economics).
With all the talk about the slow progress being made to getting all the oil out of the Gulf, we can expect our tourist
revenue to be nowhere near what it was in the past.
Everyone has a different opinion about who deserves most of the blame for the disaster. Some strongly resent BP
and feel that they are the sole people responsible. Others blame the government for not stepping in sooner. On a recent
survey of the 924 coastal residents, 75.5 percent of those Louisiana residents believe that the oil spill was not a natural
disaster and that the government could have done more to prevent it (Goidel and Kirzinger). However, Obama and the rest
of the government strongly disagree. On May 8, 2010, BP blamed the explosion on a methane bubble. However, three
days later, the representatives of the three oil companies had to face a hearing before the Senate committee on energy and
natural resources. When confronted, they did not stick to their story that the explosion was due to a methane bubble but
instead, blamed each other for not doing their jobs properly, resulting in an explosion (―BP Oil Spill Timeline‖). A few
days later, President Obama addressed the public about the oil spill. When he spoke about the hearing, he stated, ―I have
to say, though, I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle during the congressional hearings into
this matter. You had executives of BP and Transocean and Halliburton falling over each other to point the finger of blame
at somebody else. The American people could not have been impressed with that display, and I certainly wasn‘t‖
(Obama). It is uncertain when our waters will be clean again, but what is certain is that nobody wants to take the blame for