On April 20, 2010, the Gulf of Mexico suffered a disaster unprecedented in size and environmental impact. Fifty miles off the coast of Louisiana, in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, a BP drilling rig suffered an explosion that killed eleven people and caused the rig to sink more than 5,000 feet to the bottom of the sea. This was the beginning of the BP oil spill that lasted more than eighty-seven days, releasing approximately 2.3 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Although the flow of oil into the Gulf was contained on July 15, 2010, the oil spill's lasting effects on the environment continue to be devastating and widespread. (Kirkwood 1) Some of the world's richest oil reserves are found in the Gulf of Mexico, which currently accounts for 30% of US oil production (Bourne 3). In addition to oil reserves, that part of America called the "Gulf" region, located in the Gulf of Mexico and mainly including the southern coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana, is home to important ecological and environmental resources, including wildlife on the endangered species list. While no one can say for sure how much oil has spilled into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, one thing is certain: Oil spill casualties are widespread and vary greatly. One group significantly affected by the oil spill are all the onshore businesses along the Gulf that rely on tourism as a source of income. This group includes hotels, restaurants, resorts, and novelty shops that depend on tens of thousands of tourists who travel to the Gulf for vacation each year (Segal 2). Another group greatly affected by the oil spill are offshore businesses that rely on Gulf waters and their services... half of paper... force them to cooperate with such misspending investigations. This problem is exacerbated in the case of the BP oil spill because it is BP's money that is being misspent and because BP, a company worth billions of dollars, caused the oil spill. The BP oil spill was a tragedy on many levels, and there were many victims of that tragedy. Unfortunately, nothing can be done to undo what happened in the Gulf on April 20, 2010. However, unless aggressive efforts are made to resolve the situation, local governments will not spend funds intended to protect and restore the Gulf to its previous condition the leak. , we are allowing another tragedy that we can actually control to continue. The Gulf region and all its resources are too precious to us as a nation to simply allow it to become a victim of local greed and corruption, and it is up to us to fix the problem now..