An amorphous white entity etched into the Gulf of Mexico, standing out amidst the mass of blue. This was no naturally occurring phenomenon, but rather the result of an oil rig explosion which was one of the world’s largest disasters in recent history.On Sept. 19, British Petroleum (BP) and the U.S. Coast Guard officially pronounced the oil well “dead as a doornail,” according to the Associated Press.

The catastrophe began on April 20, when the Deepwater Horizon, an oil rigger chartered by BP to drill in the Gulf Coast, caught fire after a blowout from the ship’s drill column. The column eventually exploded, resulting in the deaths of 11 crew members, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Within two days of the explosion, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that oil was leaking into the Gulf at a rate of approximately 80,000 barrels per day. The environmental and economic hazards and the perceived sense of corporate irresponsibility surrounding this situation prompted a great deal of public outrage both in the nation and around the world.

Amid great pressure from the public, the U.S. Coast Guard, led by General Thad Allen and BP, implemented a variety of methods in order to contain the spill.

Several of these attempts at containment proved to be inefficient in the wake of the rapidly expanding oil spill, which at its peak reached an area of nearly 4,000 square miles, according to the Times-Picayune.

Among the failed endeavors were the use of underwater vehicles to shut blowout preventer valves, an “oil containment dome,” and a wide insertion tube surrounded by a washer designed to divert oil flow into the tube.

By June, Reuters reported that containment efforts had become primarily focused on a “cap containment system” that covered the damaged oil pipe with a cap connected to the oil riser. Despite BP CEO Tony Hayward’s claims that the containment system was capturing “the vast majority of the oil,” independent sources including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicated that the spill was continuing at an unprecedented rate.

The first cap was replaced with a tighter fitting one on July 10, and on July 15, BP officials announced that the leak had been plugged, according to Reuters. The pumping of cement to seal the final vestiges of the well began around Sept. 17, and the “death” of the well was proclaimed after pressure testing carried out by the Coast Guard.

“We are going to stop the leak, we are going to clean up the oil, we’re going to remediate any environmental damage, and we are going to return the Gulf Coast to the position it was in prior to this event,” Hayward stated in a press conference with BBC reporters in July.

Dialogue about the ecological and social impact of the disaster on the Gulf Coast region has not ceased, however. There is still a palpable air of disdain that BP has not been held legally accountable for its actions to a greater extent.

“I think it’s ludicrous that BP isn’t doing more to compensate for the results of the oil spill,” said sophomore and environmental studies major Bonnie Hardie.

According to the EPA, an estimated 400 wildlife species living in the Gulf Coast have been deemed as threatened by the oil spill due to petroleum toxicity and oxygen depletion. Images of oil-soaked pelicans on the beaches of Louisiana are a haunting reminder to the devastating impact of the spill on these creatures.

By August, the Coast Guard had collected the remnants of some 4,700 dead animals. There were also concerns about damage to coral reefs in the Gulf of Mexico, and the marine life living there which could be destroyed by the flow of oil.

“Bluefin tuna spawn just south of the oil spill and they spawn only in the Gulf,” pointed out Dr. Larry McKinney, director of the Harte Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. “If they were to go through the area at a critical time, that’s one instance where a plume could destroy a whole species.”

The disaster also entailed negative economic consequences for the inhabitants of the Gulf Coast region, resulting in a severe decline of the fishery and tourism industries whose revenues are vital to the area. Estimates by the Department of Agriculture report that, in the wake of the spill, approximately one third of the fisheries in the region were closed. The decline in visitors to the region is forecasted to come at a cost of $23 billion in the immediate future.

The sense of shock and outrage over the seeming failure of BP to take preventative measures that would have kept this spill from occurring has resulted in a plethora of lawsuits against the corporation, with 250 being counted as of July. The demands of plaintiffs in these cases cite the company’s violation of the 1990 Oil Pollution Act – which followed in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill – and urge BP to compensate fully for the financial impact of the disaster, an estimated $10 billion.

Louisiana attorney Val Exnicios, who is representing the Louisiana Commercial Fisherman’s Union in its lawsuit, expressed concern to The Times-Picayune.

“In my 21 years in practice, I have never seen a case that has potential to be as large in economic terms,” Exnicios said.

Although the BP oil well has been contained and shut down, its environmental and social consequences appear to be irreversible. The Gulf Coast has been ravaged by economic hard times before, and the consequences of this catastrophe will likely also reverberate years down the road.