On the 20th of April 2010, a British Petroleum (BP) oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded. 11 people working on the rig died. 115 people escaped, 17 of them injured. Millions of litres of oil were spilled into the ocean and into the surrounding habitat. Most of the oil spread to the coast of Florida, harming much of the wildlife, making it difficult for people in Florida to catch their main source of food.
The flow of oil was finally stopped on the 15th of July, after almost 600 million litres of oil had been released. It has been described as “worse than 10 [hurricane] Katrinas”.
There are many possible reasons as to why the rig exploded. Many of those involved in the incident attempted to blame someone else. Some of the possible causes include, the ‘Blow Out Preventer’ failing, the control pod losing some functions, and human error and accidents.
Some have argued that an upside to this disaster is that at least we can fix these problems in the future; however, a very similar disaster happened in 1979. It was in the Gulf of Mexico with almost 400 million litres of oil being released. The consequences of this tragedy are still affecting the wildlife today. This year’s oil spill will be affecting us and the environment for years to come, but, based on previous situations, this huge disaster is unlikely change anything we currently do.
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A sour note of pessimism to end the submission! The opening paragraph is essentially a list that can be structured using semi-colons (;) - speak to Jamie as he would be a better guide as how to apply the semi-colon. When quoting a source, you must say where it is from or paraphrase and use "locals think" or something similar. The picture added emphasis.
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