What no doubt will become a flood of litigation also continued Thursday. Brent Coon, a Beaumont attorney who sued BP following the 2005 BP Texas City Refinery explosion that killed 15 people, filed a lawsuit in Harris County naming Transocean, BP, and other companies as defendants, on behalf of an injured worker and his family.And two Louisiana commercial shrimpers filed suit alleging the spill is threatening their livelihoods. The EPA's Jackson reiterated that the entire cleanup bill will be BP's and said BP also should foot the costs borne by state agencies. “We will be sending a bill to BP at some point,” Jackson said.
This spill is going to cost BP billions. It will cost many commercial fisherman their jobs and it will cost the oil industry in the near future with growing opposition to new drilling off the coast. Governor Jindal has declared an emergency in Lousiana opening his state and his hands up for federal funding and assistance.
As someone said before, drilling for oil is a free market effort. Cleaning up the mess will be a socialized effort. Drill baby drill?
12 comments:
Eljefe over at Daily Hurricane did a short interview with Fox News this morning that nails the cause of the blowout. The most absurd part of the interview is when he's asked if this could have been an intentional act. Typical Fox.
"As someone said before, drilling for oil is a free market effort. Cleaning up the mess will be a socialized effort."
I suppose you don't realize that BP (and everyone else who drills in the Gulf) pays vast sums to the government for those leases, as well as royalties on every barrel.
It's absolutely appropriate that BP pay the entire bill for cleanup. Taxpayers do not need to subsidize big oil/energy anymore. The EPA really has to make good on this policy, maybe other industries will sit up and take notice that they cannot ignore laws and regulations, and skip out on fines anymore.
If the law of the land (SCOTUS) wants corporations to enjoy the same rights as individuals, then corporations can shoulder the same responsibilities as individuals.
And after they pay vast sums of money to the government for leases (it aint free you know) they will pay vast sums of money to clean up their mistake.
I agree with Bill Maher. Every idiot that went about with "Drill Baby Drill" on their lips the last year or 2 needs to be clapped in irons and hauled down to the Gulf to work 24/7 shifts on cleaning up the spilled gunk. Preferably with their tongues.
Anonymous -
Can you link to or post the "vast sums" of money that BP pays for leases? If they're losing 5,000 barrels a day at 80.00 a barrel (the quote today I read was 86.02), well, $400,000 a day is a vast sum to me. Please put these "vast sums" in perspective to BP's profits.
Rheinhard, I have no doubt you would sentence people to forced labor over policy differences. Fortunately, our system keeps would-be tyrants pretty impotent.
Mary, I'm sure you're able to find BP's annual report as well as I can. See page 63.
In 2009 BP pulled 387,000 barrels per day from Deepwater Gulf of Mexico according to the same report (pg 27)--the largest single production of BP's own assets.
The number you wouldn't post is $3,251,000.00 for all 2009 leases worldwide(pg 63), I couldn't find out what they pay just for Deepwater Gulf leases.
Their profit for 2009 was $16,759,000.00. Leases are a cost of business, and if part of their lease agreement is to pay for all cleanup costs, they should. They have lawyers who must have agreed to it, so now the same lawyers will look for loopholes so BP can try to wriggle out of their responsibilities.
"Alabama Attorney General Troy King said tonight that he has told representatives of BP Plc. that they should stop circulating settlement agreements among coastal Alabamians.
The agreements, King said, essentially require that people give up the right to sue in exchange for payment of up to $5,000." A snippet from the Press Register http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/bp_told_to_stop_circulating_se.html
BP offering up to $5,000 if they cause damage to or loss of your livelihood--the lawyers are already at it.
Mary, go back and read the annual report more closely. You understated lease costs. They're actually a thousand times what you wrote.
BP's liability will be capped at about $75 million, because the Democratic-controlled Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act in 1990.
That's a shame. Companies should be made to bear the costs of their operations.
Anonymous -
Thank you for pointing out my error. I inadvertently left off 3 zeros.
BP is paying three billion, two hundred fifty-one million dollars for their worldwide leases this year.
I also left off the 3 zeros on last year's profit: sixteen billion, seven hundred fifty-nine million dollars.
BP estimated that it would take three billion dollars to clean up the spill, and if the liability cap is raised to ten billion dollars from the current seventy-five million, as there is talk of, BP will still make a profit if their net income remains at the 2009 level.
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