The investigation was inconclusive, the fine inadequate, and the lesson has not been learned. Last week, a $4.5 billion fine was handed to BP, following the explosion of one of their wells in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The disaster caused the deaths of eleven, and the injury of seventeen more on the rig.

Although a fine has been given, the more significant long-term concern is the environmental damage caused by such reckless energy companies. It is worryingly difficult to determine how far the spill of millions of gallons of oil, which surged unrelentingly into the sea over a period of three months, has travelled. The full effect that this has had on the environment and on wildlife is still unknown.

The information is fragmented. Thousands of miles of shoreline were affected, and during May of 2010, further to the oil visible on the surface, a massive 20-mile area of oil and gas droplets was discovered drifting in the depths of the sea. Thousands of birds, hundreds of sea turtles, and other wildlife such as whales and dolphins were recorded dead in the affected area, though not all can be conclusively determined as caused by the leak.

Nevertheless, the implications of the spill on the environment have obviously been devastating. The uncertainty that surrounds the figures has been used to BPs advantage, and helped them to play down the catastrophe that they have caused. In fact they have previously lied about the size of the leak: it was brought to light that their private preliminary estimate was 20 times that told to the public.

BP has also tried to offload blame to other companies, and to some extent, they are right to do so. Halliburton messed up the job of cementing the well, whilst Transocean, almost unbelievably, switched off the fire alarms on the rig because of the annoyance caused by false alarms. Whilst BP is clearly not the only wrongdoer, they must surely be ultimately accountable for the devastation caused by the occurrence on their rig.

A fine of billions of dollars may seem to be severe enough punishment, but it isn’t. In February of this year, BP announced annual profits of more than $25 billion. The penalty is less than a fifth of this, and given that the disaster killed 11 people and caused such devastating pollution, it is pathetic.

If this is a record setting fine, it begs the question: why have they been handing out such lenient fines previously? Governments are being hugely ineffective at punishing companies that have little regard for the safety of their workers and for the environment that they terrorise. Worse than this, they are doing little to prevent it from occurring in the future.

Unfortunately timed, one day after the penalty was issued, a shallow water rig, this time belonging to Black Elk Energy, exploded, killing two and hospitalizing four more. Claims have been made that the explosion was due to the wrong type of torch being used to cut a line. Such mistakes show that that huge energy companies can afford to demonstrate a blatant disregard for the welfare of their workers and for the environment.

BP has been humiliated, yet the problem continues, and significant action against these disasters has not been taken. Obama has pledged in the past that he will reform energy policy so that this kind of catastrophic event doesn’t happen again, but obviously this promise has not been fulfilled. In order to prompt real change, the fines must be bigger, and the regulations stricter. The huge companies must be persuaded to take these concerns seriously, so that we are not stuck in a cycle of this happening again and again.

By Harriet Agerholm