BP Oil Spill: the catastrophe in the Mexican Gulf

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/20/gulf.oil.disaster/index.html?hpt=T1

Here's something that has been stirring throughout the United States, the oil spill that topples all the other spills and is devastating to the wildlife and water down south. No one seemed to have suspected such a disaster but there is a suspicion that BP knew there was a defect in its equipment in the Gulf. What is more interesting is that BP is said to have shielded a great deal of what the spill really was as in how much it truly impacted the Gulf of Mexico... So here is an interesting idea, how should companies deal with such severe problems? Does the public deserve the proper information about an event such as this? How does this relate to other issues of secret dealings within government and businesses?