Thursday marks the seventh anniversary of BP's Deepwater Horizon explosion which killed 11 workers and spewed millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Houston attorney Tony Buzbee represented 19 survivors of the blast, which he blames on a BP's culture of cutting corners for profit.
“The federal government has instituted new rules regarding blowout preventers and that sort of thing, but has the safety culture changed? I don't think so at all,” he says.
“I've been suing BP since 2004 for various fires and explosions, I still have yet to figure out what it is about the culture of that company that leads to these various accidents.”
The 2010 disaster was the largest marine oil spill in history -- lasting five months.
“You can't spill that much oil and not expect there's going to be a long-term environmental impact on fisheries and other industries related to the Gulf of Mexico,” says Buzbee.
BP issued a statement saying the company “remembers the eleven men who lost their lives and continues to work hard, as we have every day since the accident, to become even safer.”
“These are men and women who are just trying to earn a living, hopefully coming home all in one piece at the end of their hitch,” says Buzbee. “These folks have families, and when things like this happen it has a major impact.”