In case you haven’t heard, BP has agreed to pay up to $18.7 billion as part of a settlement reached late last week over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The agreement, announced over the weekend, includes the US federal government, the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, and settlement of claims made by more than 400 local government entities.
BP will pay the $18.7 billion over 18 years.
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster is officially registered as one of the worst oil spill disasters in an unfortunately rather lengthy history of similar devastating occurrences all over the world; The people who live in the Niger delta, for example, are just one ongoing example of a population that has had to live with resulting environmental catastrophes for decades. Their story has been documented on film more than a few times – films that were highlighted on this blog.
I bring it up again today for obvious reasons, and also to make sure that you know the film is currently streaming on Netflix (it has been for some time now), so, first go read up on the BP settlement that was announced over the weekend, and then watch Nailah’s feature documentary on Netflix afterward.
The initial oil rig explosion killed 11 people and injured 17 others, and over 8,000 animals (birds, turtles, mammals) were reported dead just 6 months after the spill, including many that are already on the endangered species list.
As of 2012, the Gulf was still polluted with oil.
Watch a trailer for the film below, and then, if you’re a Netflix streaming subscriber, you should check it out: