America. GET OFF BP,s BACK.

[Kalimantan Gull]

How come the Yanks are now worrying about the 'Environmental Catastrophe' that is occuring when any other day of the year they can't give a stuff about the environment. Disposable this, disposable that, huge great hummers driving everywhere.
This is definitely a case of complete hipocracy, ...or is it just ignorance.

Also true. Well, partly true, there are a huge number of environmentalists in the states. But the way their politicians are funded by corporations means its difficult to change the agenda.

George W Bush gutted the regulatory agency that could have tightened standards on the offshore drilling rigs, so its not particularly surprising what happened. Still, it has to be the company who pays for the clean-up or there would be no standards or care whatsoever.

 

[Stoo82]

God, why is everyone so defensive of a company just because it has the word 'British' in its name?

It dosen't have the word "British" in the name", it is simply BP. It has not been called British Petrolium for about 10 years.

It merged with about 3 American companys to become BP. It British headquarters is in London, its US in Texas. It is a international company.

40% British 39% American.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

exactly

 

[rcf0712]

The American oil company Anadarko own 25% of that concession, yet BP are taking all the blame as they are the actual operating partner. American Oil Company Anadarko have hardly been mentioned at all by the American president (although their share price have dipped).

I can imagine all the other oil companies active in the Gulf are breathing a deep sigh of relief, it was going to happen as they are all more than likely doing the same as BP in cost cutting, and they were lucky it weren't them. Can imagine they are all quietly spending a few bob installing additional safety features.

Shame Sarah Palin never got in power!

Mitsui own 10% also, however, as always, they go after the biggest name.......

 

[ROKERITE]

Its not that bad though.

Its not even in the top 5 oil spills (i know this is a leak).

Nigeria has had an oil leak for 50 years.

nigeria oil spills - Google Search

Poor f***ing America. f*** off you bunch of tossers.

There was an African journalist on BBC t.v. a couple of weeks ago, making the point that while the disaster in The Gulf is tragic, far, far worse has been going on in The Niger Delta for decades. I haven't heard too much sympathy from the USA for that continuing environmental disaster, though I've little doubt that American companies will have massive involvement in causing it.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

God, why is everyone so defensive of a company just because it has the word 'British' in its name?

They're a dirty bunch of scoundrels whose chase for profits has resulted in one of the worst environmental disasters yet wreaked upon this poor planet.

I see you have judged them and found them guilty with trial already. If, in the fullness of time and everybody knows exactly what happened, they are found to be at fault, them by all means, sue the arse off them.

They may be guilty of putting profit above safety, that is yet to be determined - I know they have a track record in it, but it doesn't follow that this is the case this time. Until the facts are known, I don't see what more they can be doing, they have promised to pay the clean-up costs, pararation etc. and earnings claims, and to contribute to the improvement (by independant experts) of the drilling/exploration technologies.


I felt that the US politicos were grand-standing last night, because Hayward could not say anything back to them. I'm sure it looked nice and aggressive to their voters - but I thoght he was perfectly within his rights to keep saying "wait til the various investigations have concluded, then we'll take action"

As I said, if they don't live up to their promises, then castigate them all you like.

 

[vegster]

Don’t say “BP”, say “BhoPal”


Introductory paragraphs from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster


=================================
The Bhopal disaster or Bhopal Gas Tragedy is the world's worst ever industrial catastrophes and occurred on the night of December 3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. At that time, UCIL was the Indian subsidiary of the U.S. company Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), which is now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company.

Around midnight on the intervening night of horror December 2–3, 1984, there was a leak of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other toxins from the plant, resulting in the exposure of over 500,000 people.

Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. Other government agencies estimate 15,000 deaths. Others estimate that 8,000 died within the first weeks and that another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.

Some 25 years after the gas leak, 390 tons of toxic chemicals abandoned at the UCIL plant continue to leak and pollute the groundwater in the region and affect thousands of Bhopal residents who depend on it, though there is some dispute as to whether the chemicals still stored at the site pose any continuing health hazard.
=============================
(full article runs to 27 A4 pages)

Indeed this is the " Elephant in The Room "... utter hipocracy for the septics to demand huge tranches of cash up front when it took them years to pay out a miserly amount to the thousands of Indians who lost LIVES , not temporary livelihoods.
Besides, they are already charging BP extraction rights so if its BP's oil, I would sue the U.S. government for the return of all that oil being stolen off the beaches.

 

[Tony Towner's Fridge]

BP are taking the blame because BP made all the cost cutting and time saving decisions that were wrong. They made decisions despite being advised by their Sub Contractor specialists that the decisions were high risk , potentially very dangerous and not recommended. Hayward waffled and said the whole issue was still under review because he knows that BP have nowehere to hide.

American Petroleum Institute recommendations and guidelines were rollercoasted over for sake of $s and time.

stop complaining about the American government here. It is primarily BP's fault and they will be made to pay, BIG TIME.
Obama's staneo due to his prime need to sweet talk the voters is a secondary issue and one that any politician in a similar position would play on.

TNBA

TTF

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I see you have judged them and found them guilty with trial already. If, in the fullness of time and everybody knows exactly what happened, they are found to be at fault, them by all means, sue the arse off them.

They may be guilty of putting profit above safety, that is yet to be determined - I know they have a track record in it, but it doesn't follow that this is the case this time. Until the facts are known, I don't see what more they can be doing, they have promised to pay the clean-up costs, pararation etc. and earnings claims, and to contribute to the improvement (by independant experts) of the drilling/exploration technologies.


I felt that the US politicos were grand-standing last night, because Hayward could not say anything back to them. I'm sure it looked nice and aggressive to their voters - but I thoght he was perfectly within his rights to keep saying "wait til the various investigations have concluded, then we'll take action"

As I said, if they don't live up to their promises, then castigate them all you like.

Hayward's within his rights to wait until the investigations are completed, but obviously its a shame they didn't wait until the safety measures were complete before they started drilling. All of a sudden now he's cautious?

If the safety measures were complete and up to standard, thats quite a condemnation of the whole industry and demonstrates that deepwater drilling is unsafe and should be banned.

Obviously there is more to fault than just BP here, certainly they share blame, but so does the US government, the regulators, and so on. My main point was that its a pointless exercise to jump straight to the defence of BP just because they're 'British. I would be surprised if BP aren't anything but grossly negligent, but I'm sure we can all wait for the investigations to be 'completed', sometime in the next five years or so perhaps.

In the meantime its just another sorry episode in the destroying of our planet.

 

[wellquickwoody]

God, why is everyone so defensive of a company just because it has the word 'British' in its name?

They're a dirty bunch of scoundrels whose chase for profits has resulted in one of the worst environmental disasters yet wreaked upon this poor planet.

"BP's safety violations far outstrip its fellow oil companies. According to the Center for Public Integrity, in the last three years, BP refineries in Ohio and Texas have accounted for 97 percent of the "egregious, willful" violations handed out by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)."

"We had too many people who were working to save the world. We sort of lost track of the fact that our primary purpose in life was to create value for our shareholders." -- Tony Hayward, BP CEO, 2009

'Do' and '1'.

 

[glasfryn]

Bhopal. Union Carbide. Hypocritical kuntz

that was the first thing that came to my mind
don't mind cheap petrol,worst polluters and sometimes not in their back yard my only sympathy goes to the wildlife.

 

[wellquickwoody]

that was the first thing that came to my mind
don't mind cheap petrol,worst polluters and sometimes not in their back yard my only sympathy goes to the wildlife.

For possibly the first time I wholeheartedly agree with you.


I now feel feint.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

'Do' and '1'.

what? why?

 

[Tricky Dicky]

In the meantime its just another sorry episode in the destroying of our planet.

Until such a time as we have proper clean & renewable alternatives, you always have the chance of accidents/disasters, and the US has to take a lead in this.

An while it is clearly not a good thing for the planet in the short term, every time one of these events occurs, the environmental handwringers come out with claims that the environment won't recover for 100s of years, but generally within a couple of years it is well on the way. Don't forget that oil is completely natural and is broken down by common bio-organisms all the time anyway.

 

[wellquickwoody]

what? why?

Cos the Yanks are completely out of order. Their nation is the most oil dependant in the world, some may say they have started wars over it, they have even less 'green morals' than me! But now it is on their doorstep they are whinging and looking for lawsuits. What goes around comes around.

 

[CHAPPERS]

my only sympathy goes to the wildlife.

Quite.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Bhopal. Union Carbide. Hypocritical kuntz

Absolutely

Add to that the disaster they are leaving in Iraq. The Times this week reports on millions of tonnes of chemicals and radioactive material produced by the US military being handed to private contractors and then dumped - apparently the US Army doesn't have the manpower to clear up it's own mess !!!! So the result is sub-contractors not being monitored and the locals health being affected.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

BP are taking the blame because BP made all the cost cutting and time saving decisions that were wrong. They made decisions despite being advised by their Sub Contractor specialists that the decisions were high risk , potentially very dangerous and not recommended. Hayward waffled and said the whole issue was still under review because he knows that BP have nowehere to hide.

American Petroleum Institute recommendations and guidelines were rollercoasted over for sake of $s and time.

stop complaining about the American government here. It is primarily BP's fault and they will be made to pay, BIG TIME.
Obama's staneo due to his prime need to sweet talk the voters is a secondary issue and one that any politician in a similar position would play on.

TNBA

TTF

The main reason that BP have our sympathy is that we are desperate to see UK pension money secure.

Oil exploration is a huge gamble. There might not be enough oil there is justify the costs of finding that out. There might be an environmental catastrophe.

The question no-one seems to be asking is why British pension funds continue to put our money into such high risk companies.

 

[Simster]

The question no-one seems to be asking is why British pension funds continue to put our money into such high risk companies.

What is so "high risk" about a firm that has £20bn sloshing about to give away for damages?

I'll go along with what seems like a concensus on here that the Americans are being hypocritical over this, especially as the contractor responsible for the rig was American, and not BP. But as has been said before, Union Carbide was a far bigger disgrace, and some of the poor Indians in the region have still not received any compensation.

On the other hand, the chief exec of BP is an absolute f***ing disgrace. He turned up to that grilling on Capitol Hill totally unprepared, gave no answers to any questions and looked like a completey thoughtless wanker, yet again. His conduct has cost BP the moral high ground and I have no sympathy for the firm or the twunt running the show.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

What is so "high risk" about a firm that has £20bn sloshing about to give away for damages?

The risk to pension funds lies in the stock market performance of the company. Catastrophic.