Quote:
Originally Posted by roly
i just read that the total revenue of the gulf of mexico commercial fishing industry for the whole of 2008 was $660million, which although a big figure, when compared to BP's annual profits, its a figure they could swallow fairly easy. obviosuly there's a lot more than just paying off the fishermen though.
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Let's say that when all is said and done roughly half of the gulf (just a guess) is deemed unsafe for fishing. In that case, the number might be more like $400 million (allowing for inflation and such). Thing is, you then need to factor in how many years it'll take the fishing industry to rebound. Depending on who you listen to, we could be talking about multiplying that number by 10 or maybe even 30.
And then (as you suggested) there's more. A lot more. There will be claims for diminished tourism, diminished property values, a substantially reduced local tax base, illnesses and on and on and on.
BP will probably survive, but they'll do so by fighting the vast majority of these claims tooth and nail for the next twenty years or more.