Tony Hayward joins the ranks of the elite for his role in the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has chosen former BP CEO Tony Hayward as the recipient of its 2010 Rubber Dodo Award, given annually to the person who has done the most to drive endangered species to extinction.

Under the leadership of Hayward, BP secured the right to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico by falsely claiming in documents to the U.S. government that a major spill could not happen. BP also submitted a "false and ludicrous spill-response plan" by claiming that the company could capture any spilled oil before it caused any environmental damage.

BP's offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20th, 2010, spilling more than 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico over the course of 87 days. Estimates of the number of animals killed due to the spill include over 6,000 birds, almost 600 sea turtles, and numerous mammals, plus unknown amounts of damages to wetlands, beaches, and the ocean floor in the Gulf.

"If there was ever a deserving Rubber Dodo Award recipient, it is Tony Hayward. While famously whining that he ‘wanted his life back,’ Hayward showed no remorse for the thousands of rare and endangered animals BP killed in its spill." - Kierán Suckling, executive director of CBD

In winning the Rubber Dodo, Hayward joins such luminaries (!) as the massive land speculator Michael Winer (2009), Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (2008) and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne (2007).

“History will remember Hayward as the man at the helm of BP when it unleashed the worst environmental disaster in American history. Hayward not only pushed BP into causing the spill by creating a corporate culture of risk-taking and cutting corners, he failed to take responsibility after the spill and make all of BP’s resources available to contain it.” - Suckling

The dodo was chosen as the symbol for human-caused extinction after being eliminated from the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius less than 100 years after being discovered by Dutch Sailors. The dodo was the victim of overhunting and loss of habitat, with the last known individual vanishing by 1681.

[About CBD: "At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law, and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive. We want those who come after us to inherit a world where the wild is still alive." Follow their efforts on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook.]