All summer the news has been full of the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Over 87 days, BP spewed more than four million barrels into the Atlantic, making it the biggest unintentional offshore oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.

The story became a series of stories, beginning with an explosion that killed 11 workers. Then came the environmental impact, followed by the effect it would have on the fishing and aquaculture industries on the ...