One Year Since Deepwater Horizon Explosion

[Dan74]

One year ago today, BP and Transocean's laziness and greed resulted in the Deepwater Horizon oil rig to explode, killing 11 people. As a result, millions of gallons of oil was released into the ocean, devastating an entire ecosystem, ruining a local economy, and resulting in the poisoning of Gulf residents.

BP celebrated by defaulting on their debt to the people of the Gulf and donating to the Republican Party, who pledge to keep them safe from justice.

The sad truth for them: The American People have the power to get rid of them.

Green Change Action

#1: Tell Beau Biden, attorney general of Delaware, to revoke BP's corproate charter

Beau Biden


Carvel State Office Bldg
820 N. French Street
Wilmington, DE 19801
US
Fax:(302) 577-2496




#2: Urge Delaware lawmakers to revoke BP's corporate charter:

Patricia Blevins


Delaware State Senate- Majority Leader
PO Box 1401
Dover, DE 19903
US
Fax:(302) 577-3269


Margaret Rose Henry


Delaware State Senate- Majority Whip
PO Box 1401
Dover, DE 19903
US


F. Gary Simpson


Delaware State Senate- Minority Leader
PO Box 1401
Dover, DE 19903
US


Liane Sorenson


Delaware State Senate- Minority Whip
PO Box 1401
Dover, DE 19903
US


Robert Gilligan


Delaware State House
PO Box 1401
Dover, DE 19903
US


Peter Schwartzkopf


Delaware State House
PO Box 1401
Dover, DE 19903
US


Valarie Longhurst


Delaware State House
PO Box 1401
Dover, DE 19903
US


Richard Cathcart


Delaware State House
PO Box 1401
Dover, DE 19903
US


Daniel Short


Delaware State House
PO Box 1401
Dover, DE 19903
US




#3: Write to the editor of a newspaper to build support for the movement to revoke BP's charter.

[Grogybear]

While they certainly fucked over the local economy and probably killed large amounts of wildlife, to say they "devastating an entire ecosystem" seems to be stretching it too far, without providing a source at any rate.

I was under the impression that little bacteria ate up all the delicious oil.
After all, there's probably been cases of natural oil spills. I don't see why nature would find it insurmountable to get the better of such a situation.

Nevertheless you're dead right and BP are arseholes!

What's even scarier though is that apparently all the shipwrecks in the sea (mostly from WW2) are estimated to start eroding over the next few years. According to some New Scientist article I read a few months ago there could be orders of magnitude more oil in these ships than what the BP spill released! EEK!

[Yarn]

BP agreed to pay $20 billion in damages to help restore the gulf area from the oil spill. It's stocks and reputation have been thoroughly thrashed.

Irrespective of liability, it is worth pondering whose interests a BP bankruptcy would serve. Although based in London, the company has been effectively Anglo-American since its 1998 merger with Amoco – it employs 80,300 people, of whom 29,000 are in the US. Some 40% of its shares are held in the UK, while 39% are held in the US. A collapse of BP would destroy livelihoods, damage pension funds and wipe out savings on both sides of the Atlantic. For critics of "big oil", that's hardly a cause for tears. But BP's failure wouldn't dent America's reliance on fossil fuels even slightly. Ironically, the real beneficiaries would be other big oil companies.

The US government isn't likely to let a Russian, Chinese or Middle Eastern buyer pick up the assets of a crippled BP. The richest, most likely buyer of valuable remnants would be ExxonMobil, which, lest we forget, is a company that defines hardline. Until very recently, Exxon spent millions funding groups that deny global warming. Of all the major energy companies, it has been the slowest to invest in renewable energy – in 2007, it made a profit of $40bn but put just $100m into a research project on wind, solar and green technology. And before the Gulf of Mexico disaster, Exxon was the worst oil-spiller in US history.

Has US bloodlust for BP gone too far? | Andrew Clark | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

So getting rid of BP would result in consolidation of BP's US assets with another big oil company, probably Exxonmobil, thereby making the oil industry even more consolidated. It would also reduce investment in renewable energy by as much as $900 million per annum owing to the differential between BP and Exxonmobil.
BP whets appetite for alternative energy investment bonanza - 14 Apr 2010 - News from BusinessGreen

After the oil spill, BP is probably amongst the most careful of the oil companies. You can complain about executive compensation all you want, but these men lost an enormous amount of money from the spill because they own an enormous amount of BP stock, as do many middle class pension funds. The oil spill will cut into their profit margins for years as the $20 billion is dolled out, and their reputation remains sullied. The punishment has been plenty harsh, and the effects of an execution are undesirable.

[Jack]

Ideally this would be a blog entry, and while it's a valid topic for discussion the OP does not suggest any debating points. Moved.

[do not respond]

[Whatssnew]

This is more of a chain mail thread than an actual debate.

However, yes, there was a great deal of corruption, no surprise. As for their supposed support of the republicans...duh, do you think they would support the anti-oil left? No shit dude. Perhaps you should also be upset that we let something this monumental go unmonitored so close to our shores. So who should you yell at the company for bad business practices? Or should you yell at the politicians for not monitoring the safety precautions of such a mammoth project?

[Angry Citizen]

I think I'll yell at the numbskulls who continue to support oil drilling in any of its forms, whether on land or on sea. We have to get off oil immediately. I don't care how many people's lives it fucks over. Not. My. Fucking. Problem.

[Yarn]

Whatssnew:

So who should you yell at the company for bad business practices? Or should you yell at the politicians for not monitoring the safety precautions of such a mammoth project?

Obviously them both.

[grandpa]

Obviously them both.

But corporations are about getting filthy rich, not about being principled.

Grandpa h.

[Yarn]

It's the governments job to curtail the negative effects of such motivations when doing so leads to more benefit than detriment, and this context certainly applies.