10 Critical Facts about BP and the Gulf of Mexico Crisis

[scentopine]

Another critical fact is that BP is acting primarily as a general contractor or "chief-in-charge of operations". They have no demonstrated experience or skill in oil spill control. They hire and manage other contractors and their entire entity of BP is far more engaged in damage control by deploying extensive measures to control the "message" and limiting their liability. They control the workers cleaning up, they control what the press can see and report, they control what data gets released to the public. And this means releasing as little information about the flow rate, the composition of the material leaking into the gulf, the type and quantity of dispersant being used, etc. They will employ extreme measures to keep out of the public eye to protect their brand reputation.

They should be seized and removed from being in charge of the clean-up. Other comppanies with less confict of interest can be employed to manage the same contractors that BP is managing

Credit to:

http://www.seizebp.org/

The case for seizure
http://www.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=SeizeBPCaseForSeizure&AddInterest=4221

10 Critical Facts about BP and the Gulf of Mexico Crisis
http://www.pephost.org/site/News2?news_iv_ctrl=-1&page=NewsArticle&id=9527

Snips of 10 critical facts from above source.
On May 10, BP said it had already spent $350 million as a result of the Deepwater Horizon accident.

2 By contrast, in the first three months of this year, BP made $93 million per day in pure profits. This does not include the huge salaries and perks of its executives that are considered “costs,” not profits. Thus, BP has spent what might seem to many people to be a big number on the accident ($350 million) but it is only equivalent to 4 days of pure profits for BP.

3 BP has a market value (BP’s assets) of $152.6 billion.

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7 Citigroup analysts have formally advised investors not to worry too much about “the likely costs to the company .” The Citigroup analysis notes that punitive damages against Exxon for the Exxon-Valedz oil spill in 1989 were originally set by the courts at $5 billion but reduced by 90 percent when the case reached the Supreme Court in 2008. The total cost to Exxon was $500 million in compensation damages and $500 million in punitive damages. The total cost imposed on Exxon after 20 years of litigation amounted to only $1 billion, or the equivalent of just 12 days worth of BP’s pure profits ($93 million per day) in the first three months of this year. Because of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, BP and any other oil company that is responsible for an offshore oil accident is not legally required to pay more than $75 million in damages above the oil recovery costs. Thus, the government’s response to the Exxon Valdez accident was to actually protect the Oil Giants by limiting their liability and risk exposure in the event of a catastrophic accident. Again, the $75 million limit is less than 1 day of BP’s pure profits in 2010.

8 BP is using carefully crafted language to imply that it may cover all the “legitimate” costs and “legitimate” damages (and they would presumably be the entity to determine which claim is legitimate) and that this amount will surpass the damage cap of $75 million set by the Oil Pollution Act. States BP’s executive vice president David Nagel, “A $75 million liability is not where our head is at this moment.” The most important three words of Nagel’s quote is “at this moment.” The law, as written, entitles BP’s executives to be the deciders of whether to pay or not to pay any damages above the $75 million cap. Right now the company is under the glare of global publicity and it can say whatever it wants to suggest that it is taking full responsibility.

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To those who believe the centrist fairy tale that market incentives and profit motives will guarantee the BP is doing the best possible job even as they stumble around shooting golf balls down an oil well with tortuous Rube Goldberg devices, we can add this heart warming chapter to the neo-lib/neo-con story book. Our government sponsored free market story so far S&L #1, Enron, S&L #2, Iraq #2, World economic collapse, Afghanistan #2, Deep Horizon. Read how CEOs take the riches and leave us the rags which we now use to sop up their oil.

Available at a Fortune 500 book store near you.