BP oil spill one year on

It is a year since the oil spill from the BP well deepwater horizon in the Gulf of Mexico.

One long year for all those living along the coast affected by the spill.
One short year to try and even start to understand the impact on the future of the environment and life in the area.

In my previous life I was a risk management specialist, dealing in the assessment and management of risk. I know how hard it will be to even try and calculate the long term impacts of a disaster of this scale; models can be produced and run, best estimates produced by experts and professionals analyse the results but this is all based on previous experience and statistics, all open to error.

One year on marine life is still being found dead. Birds are still affected. Fishing areas still constrained. Yes there is improvement, yes there is hope, yes things are better; but there is no way of knowing when things will return to the state they were beforehand, if ever.

Having read the various articles and commentaries on the disaster I have realised that reporting takes two very different forms; it either focusses on the economic impacts for the area of the spill and for BP, or it looks at the environmental impact. I would like to see a more comprehensive analysis of the situation as a whole, it is all interconnected and as important to those who live in the region.

Today and tomorrow I remember all those affected by the disaster, asking for God's peace and healing for the people, animals and environment.


for more information I recommend these articles by the BBC, Greenpeace, Telegraph and Bird Trader