I’ve talked at length in past blog posts about the utter disaster that the BP crisis plan following the Deepwater Horizon disaster has been. First there was mistruths about the accident (and that’s putting it mildly). Then there was a loose cannon CEO, complaining about the inconvenience of the spill and acting – as the very face of the company – with zero empathy or respect for those affected by his company’s actions.

Since these early miscues, BP made some strong plays to right the ship: they installed a real-time camera to induce transparency, they began a multi-media ad blitz and they sacked the CEO, among others.

But now, it seems, the company’s corporate stewards have slipped back to their own ways – blocking scientists from testing Gulf waters and failing to disclose the results of their own environmental tests from the affected region.

All too often corporations believe that their actions can be made will little repercussions. But in a 24/7 news cycle with bloggers, activists of every shade and a citizenship that generally cares about the actions of big industry, corporate interests must be mindful of how their actions will be viewed by the public.

At the end of the day every business is in business to make money. But now, more than ever, responsible corporate citizenship is not a price of doing business, it is a prerequisite.