The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: An Analysis of Ethics, Deepsea Drilling, and Risk - Case Study Example

Oil Spill in the Gulf The largest oil spill in the history of the United s of America occurred on 20 April in It occurred on a wellhead inthe Gulf of Mexico, which was drilled by the giant oil company British petroleum (BP). The oil spill occurred some 40 miles into the gulf southeast of the Louisiana coastline. The petroleum company had initially predicted that the oil spill would have minimal impacts on the ocean and its surroundings, but continues to cause devastating effects on the marine environment (Odze web).

The biggest and unusual disparity by the expert’s estimates is due to the company’s fact that it has continually denied the requests from a number of independent scientists to set up instruments on the ocean floor which could measure the rate of leakage more accurately. The ethical dilemma continues to mount on the US government, the British government, and the petroleum drilling company. The drilling company continues to hinder any ethical efforts and has opted over the years to settle ethical issues in court.

This has caused another ethical dilemma with the courts concerned. Since the British petroleum company was aware of the oil spill, the question remains, what amount of oil spill in the ocean is necessary for the company to repair its drilling machines? What remains at stake is the company being given the right to continue drilling the oil after the aftermath .The major participants in this case remain to be the British petroleum company, the federal government of the US, the environmentalist and the marine conservationists.

Moreover, many people are impacted in the dilemma since almost everyone relies on the ocean for transport and food and leisure activities such as surfing and swimming.The ethical approaches to decision-making that should have been employed in this case include understanding the scope of the problem, which actually is the oil spill. Secondly, it involves collecting information from various sources about the spill. Thirdly, proper study should have been conducted to about the oil spill. The fourth step involves analyzing the outcome of the ethical principles followed and the last principle is making a decision.

Other principles that the company should consider using include honesty, integrity, promise keeping, loyalty fairness, and concern for others.The solutions to this case would be the British petroleum company to settle down and have dialogue with the company’s stakeholders. Else, the case can be heard in court to make the concerned decisions. My stand on the case would be that the British petroleum is liable for any damages that result from the oil spill. It should compensate the stakeholders and take full responsibility of cleaning the oil spill in the ocean.

Works CitedOdze, Daniel. “Oil spill in the gulf.” introduction to ethics. 2011. Web. 10 April 2012.