Question by Think about it: Why did the government let British Petroleum (BP) off the hook for the Gulf oil spill?
They killed millions of animals and polluted miles and miles of water. The shrugged their shoulders and said they didn’t know how to clean up their mess so now it’s not in the news anymore and they’re off the hook. They were fined about 25% of what they make in 3 months time and that’s it. If someone else had caused so much damage they’d lose everything they were worth. Why the double standard and lack of outrage? On top of it they recently started drilling just a few feet away from the disaster well because they are greedy and saw that there is a lot of oil there. Why is the US letting a British company loot our oil and not clean up their mess?
If you want to help punish them, Boycott BP oil (such as Arco).
Ken – my point exactly. They only had to pay billion.
“Revenue US 6.1 billion (2009)[2]”
They made 6 billion last year and had to pay billion for contaminating an entire body of water – birds, dolphins turtles and all. No wonder they don’t know how to clean up, they know it’s cheaper to walk away since they get away with doing that than to invest in cleaning procedures. Exon paid a drop in the bucket for their huge spill, they appealed it for over 15 years until the fine was reduced to about 5% of the original judgment just a couple of years ago and didn’t make headlines.
Best answer:
Answer by disturbed1
Easy answer. Money. Money = votes.
Add your own answer in the comments!
Everyone at the company should have had to swim in a pool of oil for a year for that bullshit
Not so. President Obama pried $20 Billion out of them, Ken Feinstein is dolling it out. How soon we forget.
this is why i find obama disappointing.
I guess you will have to boycott all oil companies, since they cross-sell the oil with each other constantly.
Bet you havnt stopped driving places though? Easy not to practice what you preach. The Gulf spill was small compared to some of the biggest, yet, because it affected America it was like the end of the world! Double standards.
No need to do anything… The invisible hand will fix this! Right?
First, BP donated heavy to Obama, it’s a fact. The second fact is boycotting stations that say BP does nothing to BP. The only person you are punishing is the station owner, which is not BP. The big oil companies make their money when they pool their oil together, not from the gas we buy.
i love you !!!!!
20 days before Obama even went there–and 60 days before he was ballsy enough to call BP ceo–and Obama let the Gulf ruin and crushed us by his overt ignoring of our plight.
At least Bush went to Katrina right away and got fema going right away-compared to obidiot–Bush’s Katrina looks amazing.
Obama is still ignoring the Gulf.
Because they were a contributor to Obama’s 2008 campaign.
After the Exxon Valdez disaster and Clinton’s letting Exxon off the hook for clean up costs, Bush signed into law a bill that holds the owner of the ship/well responsible and liable for all clean up costs. The current administration would like to sweep this whole disaster under the rug as quickly as possible. What most people fail to realize is that it was THIS administration who opened the gulf to deep water drilling after Bush had suggested it and watched that suggestion get shot down in flames by the liberal left. As it stands, everyone believes it was Bush who opened the gulf to more drilling. It gets filed under “Blame Bush” and “Blame BP.” The Sec. of Interior as already admitted that it is his fault that he did not enforce the laws and he was appointed by and answers directly to Obama.
Simply put buddy – British Petroleum were not the culprits. BP merely hired the damned Rig and that makes the owner responsible and not the British Petroleum shareholders.
Cons claimed that the Obama administration was extorting money from BP through a “Shakedown.” The right wingers used the “Shakedown” word a lot. They defended the company and stated that the money requested by the Obama administration was unfair. There was a great push from the right to have the administration back off of requiring anything from BP.
It was pretty unbelievable but the right-wing forces in this country were very adamant that the 20 billion that the Obama administration was requiring was outrageous.
What would make you think that BP was left ‘off the hook?’ They have already placed $20 billion in a trudt fund to cover damages – even though the spill was essentially cleaned up months ago.
The most serious economic damage was not from the spill, instead it was from Onbama’s stupid drilling ban. And even stipp BP is paying compensation for that also!
Another thing to consider is that the US government made $12 in royalties for every barrel of oil spilled.
The next thing you need to realize is that the EPA has yet to announce the fine. These fines are going to be in the billions of dollars.
The real ironic thing is that the UG government is going to turn a profit of several billion dollars off of the oil spill – and little or none of this money will make it to the people in the Gulf area.