June 18, 2030—Tony Hayward, the former oil executive who long sought to get his life back after becoming the central foil in the BP Oil Spill Disaster of 2010-2011, died yesterday at his home in Kent, England after a long illness. He was 73.
Hayward, who served as chief executive of the now-defunct BP Group from 2007-2011, was blamed for safety lapses that led to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion—which occurred in the Gulf of Mexico and resulted in the largest oil spill in U.S. history. That explosion, in which 11 platform workers died, caused a sea floor oil gusher that poured billions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf region over two years, devastating both the area economy and the environment. It took BP two years to cap the gushing well. The company subsequently went bankrupt after scores of class-action lawsuits.
The remnants of the environmental disaster are still evident in the Gulf today.
When BP first began trying to contain the leak, Hayward drew widespread public scorn for saying: “There’s no one who wants this thing over more than I do, I’d like my life back.”
When the containment effort was finally over, Hayward was fired. He returned home hoping indeed to find his life back, but discovered that his family had disappeared and his assets gone.
The stress of the disaster took its toll on the discredited executive’s health. He was cared for in his final years by Joe Barton, a former U.S. congressman from Texas.
Now what about the gossip that he’d contracted some deadly disease when he gave an interview on that coast guard boat?
Poor Tony, his life will never return to normal again.
This blog is awesome!