[likeabatterycar]

> they didn't really clean the beaches or water that well and just dumped more sand on top of the oily film

Is there a particular technical solution you had in mind? The world's largest bottle of Dawn soap?

It was one of the worst disasters ever, they were writing the book as they went along. Sometimes the repair is worse than the event (e.g. poisoning the sea life with cleaners or dispersants). Sand is inert, so it may have been the least risky method.

In fact, if you spill motor oil in your driveway, the initial recommended cleanup method is to cover it with sand or cat litter and let it soak up the oil...

[emilamlom]

I'm not an ecologist, so no, I don't have a particular technical solution in mind. I'm going off of memory from living there at the time. That said, I would expect any oil company operating so close to shore to have a proper disaster preparedness plan. As I remember it, BP drug their feet fighting over who was responsible for the cleanup which made it end up being worse than it potentially could have been.

[wakawaka28]

There's only so much a company or anyone else can prepare for in advance. I don't recall much hesitation in trying to deal with the spillage. BP didn't do everything right, and I heard they harrassed some whistleblowers. Some of the chemicals they used to clear up the oil were themselves toxic. But seriously what can you expect anyone to do about such a huge disaster. It's literally an ocean-sized cleanup problem in response to a freak accident.