GULF OIL SPILL

‘Spillionaires’: Profiteering and Mismanagement in

the Wake of the BP Oil Spill

Aerial view of the BP oil spill site off the coast of Houma, La., on July 13, 2010. (Melanie Burford/ProPublica)

by Kim Barker
ProPublica

A version of this story was co-publishedwith The Washington Post.

The oil spill that was once expected to bring economic ruin to the Gulf Coast appears to have delivered something entirely different: a gusher of money.