Daryl Montgomery submits:
British Petroleum (BP) has lost around a quarter of its value since April 20th, when its blown out well started spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Several efforts to control the leak so far have failed and the damage is rapidly escalating. This is not just shaping up to be the biggest man-made environmental disaster of all time, but it will have ramifications for BP and the oil market for years to come.
The oil spill has already reached shore, stretching 150 miles from Grand Isle, Louisiana to Dauphin Island, Alabama. The ecologically fragile marshlands of Louisiana have already suffered noticeable damage. The oil moving underwater could be even more dangerous than the oil on the surface, however. Scientists have found vast underwater plumes emanating from the well, one of which is 10 miles long and a mile wide. An outer edge of the spill has already reached the Gulf of Mexico loop current and that could bring oil to Cuba and both coasts of Florida, affecting its beaches and the Everglades.