Many businesses nowadays struggle with ethics versus profits, or being environmentally aware and friendly at the expense of reduced profits. Deepwater Horizon situated their drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico in April of 2010, ignoring the ethical harms that this act could potentially have on the ecosystem, focusing solely on the revenue they could gain from drilling oil. In this case, the corporation was willing to forego environmental concerns for their own gain, which proved to result in the worst oil spill the World has seen. After the rig exploded in April of 2010, it took nearly two months before it was plugged, resulting in a spill of 5 million barrels of oil. Had the company spent the necessary money in order to develop a plug prior to drilling the well, much of this disaster could have been prevented.

Although this error was made very public, very quickly, many businesses today choose to ignore the long term implications a project may have on our environment in order for them to be profitable in the end and keep shareholders happy. Another example of this may be the current gas exploration of Hydraulic Fracturing as there are current signs of contaminating ground water, yet these implications on our own safety and health, don’t stop countless businesses from investing and pushing forward with this new process. With public outcry, the government has had to intervene and review the safety precautions. This, in turn, begs the questions, how much are you willing to sacrifice for a profit and why does the government have to step in to police the actions of these businesses if they are ethically concerned?

BP Oil Spill; April 2010

CBC News; BP oil spill cleanup toxic to key species; http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/11/30/bp-oil-spill-dispersants-rotifers-study.html

BBC News; BP Oil Spill: The Environmental Impact One Year On; Mark Kinver; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13123036