The civil trial against BP for the biggest oil spill in US history begins shortly, adding to the oil industry's long legacy of environmental disaster.

The explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico is one of the worst on record.

An estimated 4.1 million barrels of oil poured into the water over 87 days in 2010.

Al Jazeera's John Terrett reports from New Orleans.