Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Disaster

In the last 3 years US Health & Safety regulators have cited a number of companies for "egregious, wilful safety violations: Exxon - 1; Citgo - 2; Sunoco - 8; BP - 760.

BP, called "a recurring environmental criminal" by lawyer Jeanne Pascal, also was criticised in 2001 for neglecting emergency shutdown equipment in Alaska and intimidating employees who raised safety or environmental concerns [there may have been other things, I don't know]. At Prudhoe Bay in 2006  the pipe that BP had allowed to corrode through let out 200,000 gallons of oil.

But never mind - this has an upside. The Sunday Times pointed out that investors can make money through firms that specialise in cleaning up BP-style incidents. I suppose that counts as economic growth.