The Effects of the BP Oil Spill and Hurricane Katrina on Businesses in South Louisiana (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION The businesspeople of South Louisiana have gone through two major disasters in a five year period where this research study shows that the businesspeople have not been able to recover financially. Also, the President of the United States has placed a moratorium on deep water drilling for six months that has certainly hurt not only businesspeople directly involved but also other businesses as well. CNN Money reveals that small businesses are skeptical--at best--of BP's promise that it will pay for all lost income and wages as a result of the oil spill. This article states that it is certainly easier to pay individual workers with a single W2 form than businesses such as real estate agencies, restaurants and retail shops. CNN Money indicated that BP has received 37,000 claims for compensation, but it has only made payment or partial payments on 18,000, totaling just shy of $50 million (Clifford, 2010). The next round of payments is to bring the total to $84 million (Clifford, 2010).