Several years later, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to make headlines. According to Nasdaq, BP attempted to block payment of "false" insurance claims to those affected by the leak, despite the fact that the company's negligence was found to be the cause of the losses from those seeking claims. The organization has already paid out $14 billion in clean-up and $13 billion in compensation, but the Supreme Court recently ruled that BP is still on the hook for $18 billion in fines, according to the LA Times. BP continues to assert that it is being unfairly taken advantage of.

This is a staggering amount of money, even for a business as large as BP. But the sad reality is that the 2010 spill was a completely preventable disaster. Had more been done in the way of equipment monitoring, the Gulf would not be in the state that it is and BP would not be in a financial situation of its own making. Businesses that have not invested in the kind of technology that will allow them to avoid disasters of this magnitude should consider doing so. 

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