Tag: Briitish Petroleum

BP Blaming Employees For The Gusher

It now appears that BP while attempting to plug the gusher with their so called “top kill” operation, has moved to trying to blame the Deepwater Horizon platform explosion and the BP oil gusher in the Gulf on it’s employees who were on the platform at the time of the explosion.

In this short clip from CBS Wednesday, beginning at the 1:26 minute mark, you hear CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassman say that…

BP officials have told congressional investigators that right before the rig exploded, workers on it ignored strong warning signs – equipment readings that something was terribly wrong, including contaminated cement and leaking gas, signs that the rig could blow – and two hours later, it did.

Nice try, BP. Directly contradicting BP’s spin was BP’s Chief Electronics Technician Mike Williams who was on the rig at the time of the explosion.

You might remember Williams. He was the technician who appeared on CBS’ 60 Minutes a couple of weeks ago, in an interview by 60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley, and described the events leading up to the explosion…

Spinning The BP Catastrophe

According to Cassandra LaRussa writing on May 01, 2009 at CommonDreams.org British Petroleum (BP), like most of the oil industry, enjoys enormous lobbying strength and very close ties to the lawmakers who are responsible for regulating oil industry practices as a federal investigation looms over them in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon debacle in the Gulf of Mexico.

Cassandra pointed out in her article that:

During the 2008 election cycle, individuals and political action committees associated with BP — a Center for Responsive Politics’ “heavy hitter” — contributed half a million dollars to federal candidates. About 40 percent of these donations went to Democrats. The top recipient of BP-related donations during the 2008 cycle was President Barack Obama himself, who collected $71,000.

And make no mistake, a debacle it is, and one that makes all other industrial ‘accidents’ in history pale by comparison.

As Political Spin Examiner Maryann Tobin noted  back on March 31 after President Obama announced his plans to lift the longtime ban on offshore drilling:

The shores off America’s coast had been safe from oil drilling – until now. President Obama has announced plans to allow oil companies to drill in areas that were previously protected.

The newly opened oil fields will span from Delaware to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and parts of Alaska.

“In a reversal of a long-standing ban on most offshore drilling, President Barack Obama is allowing oil drilling off Virginia’s shorelines and considering it for a large chunk of the Atlantic seaboard,” according to the AP.

Environmental group, The Sierra Club, believes that more drilling will not stop US dependence on foreign oil. According to a statement to MSNBC, offshore drilling will only serve to end another boundary of protection for the environment.

The beneficiaries of offshore drilling will be the oil companies. Exxon Mobile and Chevron posted more than $50 million in profits last year.  After President Obama’s announcement this morning, oil stocks began to rise.

Lifting the ban on offshore drilling will erase a prohibition that has been in place for more than 20 years.

D-D-Drill B-B-Baby D-D-Drill: BPs Black Money Tide

From Youtube user golefttv  –  April 30, 2010:

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is becoming worse by the day, with over 200,000 gallons of crude a day. Environmental Attorney Mike Papantonio appears on MSNBC’s The Ed Show to discuss the disaster and the legal ramifications of it.

Mike Papantonio is an American attorney and radio talk show host. A prominent trial lawyer, he co-hosts Ring of Fire Radio, a nationally-syndicated weekly radio program, with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.