An interesting if somewhat profane report has claimed with some authority that damage control is indeed possible, but it would have required preparation for the catastrophe before it happened. No such preparation was done because preparing for disaster was left as BP's responsibility but they had little incentive to do so. No one made them prepare, it would have cost some money and their only emphasis to make money.
Perhaps punishing the BP executives can change their future motivations, but that is at best a maybe. Like children, oil executives think they can always get away with doing what they want and that harm will never come to them.
So what is to be done? Without doubt we are not done drilling for oil. Our economy is too dependent on this fuel to get off of it quickly, but it is just foolish to risk future catastrophes of this sort.
OSPA would oversee drilling to make sure it is done safely and properly, but OSPA would itself be charged with having proper equipment readily available to protect the oceans and marshes from oil spills. Cleanup would be OSPA's responsibility, not the oil company; of course fines would be imposed on the responsible oil company to pay OSPA's costs for the cleanup activity.
