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Subscribe to RSSBP agrees to a multibillion-dollar deal to settle economic and medical losses claimed in a lawsuit brought by victims of the 2010 Gulf oil spill. NBC's Chief Environmental Affairs Correspondent Anne Thompson reports.
NEW ORLEANS -- BP and a committee representing 100,000 fishermen, sickened cleanup workers and others suing over the 2010 Gulf oil spill have reached an estimated $7.8 billion agreement to settle the lawsuit, company officials said late Friday.
Federal Judge Carl Barbier, who also announced the settlement pact but did not provide details, said that as a result of the deal, the trial scheduled to begin Monday has been postponed for a second time.
No new date was immediately set.
The agreement will be filed with the court for approval, Barbier said.
The settlement will likely result in a realignment of the parties in this litigation and require substantial changes to the current trial plan, he said. He didn't elaborate, and there was no mention in his order of anything about the status of BP's talks with the federal government and other parties.
Bob Dudley, BP Group CEO, said in a statement obtained by NBC News that the oil company worked for two years to meet its obligations to the Gulf Coast region.
"The proposed settlement represents significant progress toward resolving issues from the Deepwater Horizon accident and contributing further to economic and environmental restoration efforts along the Gulf Coast," Dudley said.
BP said it estimated that the cost of the proposed settlement, expected to be paid from a $20 billion trust set up after the spill, would be approximately $7.8 billion. This includes a BP commitment of $2.3 billion to help resolve economic loss claims related to the Gulf seafood industry.
Before the proposed settlement, BP said, the company spent more than $22 billion, including paying out more than $8.1 billion to individuals, businesses and government entities and $14 billion on "operational response."
The proposed settlement does not include claims against BP made by the U.S. Department of Justice or other federal agencies, including those under the Clean Water Act and for Natural Resource Damages under the Oil Pollution Act, or by state and local governments, BP said.
The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana in April 2010, killing 11 workers and spewing more than 200 million gallons of oil from an undersea well owned by BP. The spill soiling sensitive tidal estuaries and beaches, killing wildlife and shutting vast areas of the Gulf to commercial fishing.
The main targets of litigation resulting from the explosion and spill were BP, Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron International, maker of the well's failed blowout preventer. BP, the majority owner of the well that blew out, was leasing the rig from Transocean.
BP reported 2011 profits of $40 billion, $7.7 billion alone in the last quarter. It recently raised its dividend to shareholders by 14 percent. BP recently said it has 5 deep water rigs operating in the Gulf of Mexico and expects to be operating an additional three by the end of 2012.
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Well spoken, you are a gentleman and a scholar.
To redirect a little bit. I find it funny that the repubs are pissing and moaning about Obama "driving up the price of oil", meanwhile BP just made 7.7 Billion in 3 months as just one of a dozen major oil companies. How about ending oil subsidies and making it illegal to trade oil futures? The repubs have no interest in doing those things that would actually help lower the oil price for the average citizen, they just want to use our misfortune for their own gain while looking the other way on these ridiculous profit margins.
THINK: If BP didn't have the money in the bank to pay the Plaintiffs, it would have have been forced go into bankruptcy and there would only be pennies to pass around. There are two other spills going on right not (not BP) which are going to cause damage which has to be paid for. As the BP incident has shown the amount of damages can be nearly beyond belief. This is why oil companies maintain hugh reserves. Yes, they hold a lot of money, but if they only held a $1,000.00 in reserve, where would our citizens be with the High Versions disaster. The US government doesn't have the know how as to cap a well, create a dome or drill a curved relief hole to exactly hit the original bore hole. What BP engineering did to shut down the leak is nothing but incredible. Suppose BP didn't have the funds and technology on hand and said F**k it we will file bankruptcy (tough luck guys) where would we be? How would the well be caped? (That's a very good question - another year or two) Tell me who would be picking up the costs of clean up, loss of profits and damage to the environment? Think cut the profit, which builds the reserves and see Mobil, Sunoco and others bit the dust whenever an accident happens. What would the price of gas be, who would be the supplier? Just think before you scream.
@gil, So they should suffer no consequences? The 22 Billion they paid is barely half a years profits, it's a fraction of the damage done to the Gulf and its businesses, and they're already drilling 3 more wells in the gulf. Also, BP didn't know how to cap the well either. If you remember, it was an anonymous person who submitted the design for the cap after BP had failed for almost 2 months to do it themselves.
They surely learned a big lesson from that spill .... Tim ....
And a costly spill ....
They are not done paying out for it either ....
Well,,,,,,,, we payed out for B-P, tax money and conservatives don't have a problem with there profits,,,,,,,,but we bail-out G.M. an American Corporation and all we here is "they should have gone bankrupt, the unions and their suppliers too"...........Another thing I am pretty sure B.P. has insurance to cover this as it was a accident and would not have to be paid by themselves.........something to think about.
That's right Bob ....
Remember how BP went after the builders of the rig ....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/04/30/bp-rating-fitch-idUSN3017954620100430, looks like it might be 20 years or so before it is all paid for........hmm, wish I could do that,,,,,,I need a Exxon lawyer, and cheap......LOL.
Boycott BP!
Tim: Read my post again. It was written carefully to avoid misunderstanding. Read it again. The $ that BP will pay are not yet determined . And, that was not the point. Nor was is the point as to how the well was plugged -- the point was that the Government could not have done it. Do you want gas for your car? Get some education in technology!!!
@gil, BP spent 87 days claiming the spill wasn't that bad while they shot golf balls, mud and shredded tires into the hole, then they ended up using a cap that some random person designed when they couldn't figure it out. I absolutely think the government could have done just as well, even a person that thinks government can't do anything would have to admit that. And like Bob said above, they likely have massive insurance policies for this sort of thing, so they probably aren't the ones paying the damages anyway.
PS: to my comment at 1.11 I am done and will not debate further w/ people who have no idea what they are talking about and can'[ read.
I can read just fine, excuse me if I don't think taking 3 months to fix a problem is "incredible". If you're going to be allowed to drill these kinds of wells, you should prove you have the ability to fix a broken one.
Thank you, Tim. That's exactly right. Then again, if they would have stopped their drilling to fix the part that was breaking up when it was first reported, we wouldn't be here now commenting and eleven men would still be alive.
Tim: You implied that I used the word "incredible" -- a total lie. Where did I say what time was appropriate, I don't know if 3 mons or 9 mons right, no one does. It is obvious that you could not stop a clog in the toilet better less an oil spill.
Gil, is in conference with the lawyers and Execs. at B.P., excuse him till he gets the story straight. All they needed in reserve is the deductable on their insurance.http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/04/30/bp-rating-fitch-idUSN3017954620100430, who ya gonna believe B.P./Gill or Reuters? This Corporate greed is getting to bre too much, now they have spokesman on Newsvine.......
Gil:
Directly from your first post.
I'd like to know how a well gets "caped". Do they use Superman's cape??? Maybe that's who should have been called in the first place.
No Gil you said,"As the BP incident has shown the amount of damages can be nearly beyond belief." and who caused them Gil, and who is responsible for their neglect? "Oh it was a accident and I don't have insurance" won't work to drive a car, let alone make billions a year in profit on a non-renewable source that is our country's........Gil's world revolves around B-P, and oil,,,,,,,,pathetic..
Bob, he's obviously a pretty lousy spokesman if he can't even deal with the two of us. On top of the "incredible" quote he DID use, yours is an excellent find as well.
Yah, next thing he'll say is "I earned my wealth and your not getting it"........ Gesssssss
how about paying the amount costs to clean up
A great documentary germane to the BP Oil Spill: Fuel
Just curious, does this settlement include the billions that the government forced them to put into that spill account when it happened? I'm not suggesting that they shouldn't be on the hook for all damages pertaining to the spill, I'm just interested in what the real total is.
Secondly, is the government implicated at all in this spill? Please remember that the federal government was giving BP "safety awards" for this rig and was inspecting it, so I'd like to know what changes the federal government is making to itself in the wake of this mess.
Lastly, in late Friday breaking news, GM has stopped Volt production and is laying off 1,300 line workers. BTW- They are blaming the "media" for the Volt's failure. Sounds like no matter how much the government wants us to buy Government Motor's electric car (buy the company, use taxpayer dollars to incentivise the costs, make the forst 10,000 produced loss leaders in cost, etc.) they just can't make the public "want" them. I wonder if that GE letter to their employees- use a GM Volt for business or you don't get reimbursed- is going to help sales...... To be continued.....
WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? The Automobile Industry and also the Petroleum Industry...
How about we end "green" @!$%#ing energy subsidies as a fair trade? I would take that deal!!!
This is exactly right JoeNY. We are dealing with human nature here.
SUCKERS-R-US
Welcome to $5.00 a gallon to pay for that settlement. Did you really think that "they"were going to foot the bill?
Oh Please!
Bob & Tim: When you "sober up" this morning read my post at #1.4 carefully. I don't expect my check from BP for about a week -- just sent the invoice. BTW: you totally missed the point and never responded to it. If BP was not there with its finances and technology who would have stopped the spill?
PS: I never said that BP was not responsible and should not pay for every cent of damage caused.
the only "green energy" that should be scrapped, is ethanol.
I favor using the fossil fuel that is the cleanest/more abundant on our continent(natural gas), to run our vehicles.
With all the breaks big oil have receive in the last 100 years, that money could have been used to refine hydrogen powered vehicle technology(or something comparable), and make it affordable for all.
TIM-104... "days claiming the spill wasn't that bad while they shot golf balls"
My God your memory is poor, First of all it was 3 party environmental studies (mostly university Departments) in the water at the time claiming that the spill wasn't near as bad as predicted, the only ones screaming it was much worse were the environmentalists, and as time proved, there never was any 50 mile sludge snake on the bottom of the Gulf as they claimed.
As for insurance TIM, do you REALLY believe heavy industry works the same as you and your Volvo? Most industrial insurance is based on equipment replacement only (the rig), which is a drop in the bucket in this case. Insurance companies will not cover the outcome of litigation from disasters or loss of life. This is the exact reason large companies keep large pools of money allotted for such causes.
As for the golf ball story, Yes, the CEO in Europe was reported to be hitting golf balls 1 day a few weeks into this event, the truth is he was his family at his sons BD party. I find no fault with this, this man had already written blank checks to anyone and everybody to do what they can to stop the blowout, this was his job and he performed it. There were 75 upper management staff he sent out to to the Gulf area with big checkbooks to help out any way they could. In fact thousands were paid almost on a whim without requiring receipts, but they paid anyway, many in the Gulf made awesome money from BP over this in scams. Would you have preferred the CEO go out and have only 1 man deal with the thousands of complaints, with 1 checkbook, or as as he did (what a CEO's Job is) and direct his team;
OH, your comment about shredding tires reeks of ignorance, you judge a method that you obviously know nothing about, just because you don't understand something TIM, doesn't mean it is improper, it may be that you are only uneducated or misinformed, it amazes me how ignorant people are about reality and their conceived reality. Would you have been any different Tim? I doubt it. And no Random Person "fixed" the leak, this is another twisted imaginary scenario that only exists in your mind. So did someone walk on water to get to the rig and say, hey I got an idea... or was it a member of the engineering team working on the problem? HMM, if my memory serves me correctly, it was another idea out of hundreds that in this case was the next methodology to try...
BP won't have this coming out of their pockets the consumer will pay in higher gas prices.
Welcome to how business works. The cost ALWAYS gets passed on to the consumer. Businesses are not there to cater to society, hiring those that need jobs, taking care of their families ect ect...they are there to make money. You go to work to make money. It always amazes me that people dont quite understand that.
gildo why does B.P. have to lease some one elses drilling rig, if they are so advanced. and i will bet you that the CEO that was fired ,didn't know didley about drilling .it is the workers ,supps. and engineers who know. and what about the inferior pipe, they used as a cost cutting measure. as you could see in videos it was thin. sir ,i and a lot of people would have come up with a plan sooner than 90 days .and if you say different in this one you are a liar. to construct a dome like that should have taken less than 30 days they can construct ships faster than that . i really believe B.P. was shell shocked and hoped it would go away. like kids do to parents. i really feel that without the horizens,ect. of the world . B.P. would struggle. exxon struggled for 13 hours before any decision was made. then poor ones like not pumping oil to empty tankers sooner. so you see with all their resourses they mostly can't get it right. there were two in valdez.
How much is the dead wildlife and sealife getting?
Well, they were getting left alone when the fishermen were banned from the area during the spill. Now that everything has cleared up, they get the business end of mans hooks and spears again.
7.8 ain't sh!t for the damage they did. They should go to prison for life.
@ Kornfed
That's right business as usual which cannot hold a candle to "this is my life your dealing with". Like it or not, the world does not exist for the sake of corporations and corporations are not the reason the world exists. Also, you talk about man as some type of absolute when it comes to resources. The world was not made for us, and there are scientific laws that no corporation or corporate zealot and payoff.
$7.8B. If anyone recalls, 11 individuals lost their life due to the negligence and cost cutting of BP. How the hell can you put a price on human life, let alone 11 lives!!!
In my personal opinion, BP should be surcharged 15% on every dollar profited from any oil well for the next 20 years. To pay for the damage known, and the damage yet to be known.
They are getting off way to damn easy!!!
IRESPOND2315248 What you wrote makes sense to me about "Welcome to $5.00 a gallon to pay for
that settlement." You are so smart.BP raped the environment and I hope the Brits don't get away with murder It was
a British invasion, that's what it was, a British invasion. Phyllis
The BP spill isn't even the largest oil spill in the history of the Gulf of Mexico. Ixtoc in 1979 was a larger spill.
That's why the articles NEVER say "the largest spill in North America or in the Gulf".
I bet you haven't heard of Ixtoc? Why not?
The media hyped this from the start. They know they are plenty of viewers who don't think for themselves and hate the oil companies even though they are selling gasoline at the lowest price of any importing nation in the world. They already have them fooled into thinking their profit margins are higher than average, and that they pay less taxes than average - both blatant factual lies.
The comparisons would be very easy. Same type of oil. Same body of water. Same climate. Same dispersant, Corexit used on both.
So why didn't they dare make the comparison in the US media?
BECAUSE JUST 2 YEARS AFTER IXTOC, SWARMS OF SCIENTISTS COULD FIND NO MEASURABLE DAMAGE TO THE ENVIRONMENT.
And the exact same thing is happening with the BP spill. Seafood harvests are exceeding pre spill levels. And it is the most tested food in the history of the world - and it is testing safe.
You wouldn't even know there was a spill along the Gulf Coast if you go there today.
Why? 20 million gallonsof oil seep into the Gulf every year, NATURALLY. So every 10 years, a BP spill worth happens naturally.
The solar, thermal, and chemical breakdown is very strong in the Gulf, but most importantly, there is a huge amount of oil eating bacteria that is in the Gulf. That colony is kept strong by the natural leaks.
If you have studied biology, you know that the bacteria that can eat 20 million gallons a year can easily grow in number to enough to eat 200 million gallons in a year. It literally could simply take days for the bacteria population to multiply by 10 times.
Those bacteria are not in Prince Williams Sound (Valdez). The solar, thermal, and chemical degradation does not exist there.
So why do they compare the BP spill to Valdez and not Ixtoc in the US media (foreign media compared it to Ixtoc)?
Because then the hype goes away. The bogeyman narrative of the oil companies gets diminished.
And Americans would learn the truth. The media is scared you might get a taste for the truth. And then how would they be able to sell their propaganda?
David - the Realist: The only thing real is the lack of ANY UNDERSTANDING YOU Have about ANYTHING in this matter. OIL COMPANIES DO NOT OWN DRILLING RIGS, There are exceptions of course, but DRILLING COMPANIES own drilling rigs! Your rhetorical question is plain stupid! It would be similar in asking, if you save money- why don't you own a bank? As for methods used to cap a well, you first need to understand that a blowout is a formation kick, and THOUSANDS of formation kicks happen monthly around the world to ALL oil companies. Don't you think they have experience in capping them? They tried what normally works first, and as each procedure failed they moved to the next one, until they tried something NEW! Isn't the most logical procedure to use first the one you know to be effective, efficient and tested? That's what they did, How can you judge what they did when you obviously have NO CLUE in what you are talking about! l.. Hindsight is 20/20, too bad you weren't there to tell them on day one to build the dome, obviously you had the engineered plans in your head already at the time!
I suspect Tim-1040943 post 1.3 who with stated intent, redirected this discussion, is on the payroll of BP or the EPA. What say you Tim-1040943?
The article is about BP-British Petroleum who is still tied up in court over their potential involvement of "criminal negligence," the death of rig workers, and the questionable liability of the composition of the concrete and more used in the drilling of this well that exploded. The very day it happened I fired off an email to the woman who was heading up the group for the United States government to oversee this disaster. My email to her contained a list of names of the people and companies who I thought would be a good addition to the team. She must have been in mid-air when she emailed back telling me not to worry, that she had her "A" Team on board and it would be taken care of. One of the companies I recommended was called in a month after the explosion to help in the mopping up exercise, so what do I know?
I know this: In newspaper articles, as recent as last week, local papers from Panama City, to Pascagoula, to New Orleans, to Galveston, and to Corpus Christi, on pages 18 or 24 there are reports of people still dying for "Unknown Reasons."
BP dumped into the Gulf of Mexico, our waters, waters that belong to every American citizen, an "oil dispersant" called Corexit. It was made by an American company; Nalco of Napersville, Illinois and comes in several varieties. BP used the Corexit 9500 and 9527 to disperse the massive amount of oil that was spilling into our waters in The Gulf. Corexit is said to be 20 times more toxic than oil. There is speculation that BP did this out of fear of being fined over the total number of gallons that eventually leaked into the waters. The fewer measurable gallons the less the fine to be levied by the EPA or the Government on them. Clever lads those BP boys and girls are, evasive and clever.
The Corexit 9500 which had previously been banned by law in Britain but not in Boston was dumped into The Gulf: the estimates range from 1.5 million gallons to 90 million gallons straight into The Gulf, in it's concentrated form. Our EPA, the people who are paid to protect us from harm, dragged their feet for months before they released to the public, ( that would be you and me) the contents of Corexit 9500. Why did they wait so long? Why did they allow BP to dump this in the first place? I am sure that most of you have read about the manufacturing process and the precautions of this product. It is advised that the makers, those at the chemical plant, wear a full body protective cover and a face mask with oxygen tank; and if exposed to skin or inhaled the directions say to immediately get a wash-down as if one had been exposed to atomic radiation and then seek immediate hospital attention. Two of the active ingredients are 2-butoxyethanol and dioctylsodium sulfosuccinate. A mere 2 drops of the former taken with water or added to your energy drink and you are dead; no questions asked, the end.
Let it be known that I am not a member now nor have I ever been a member of any "environmental organization." I am just an American who loves the shrimp that come from the waters of The Gulf of Mexico. I enjoy the Atlantic shrimp, but they are shrimps; very tasty but a tad small. It is the jumbo shrimp that I really enjoy, the ones that are about the size of what those chain restaurants sell as lobster tails. Shrimp has always been a special treat for me; a meal saved for special occasions like my birthday and Christmas Eve. Those big babies do not come cheap. I suspect the reason that people are still dying from "unknown reasons" is because there is still the toxic Corexit 9500 in the Gulf waters. It is being ingested by the sea life that feeds in The Gulf and people are eating their shrimp and fish and oysters with an added dose of the Corexit. It appears to be an impossible thing to "test." Apparently it manifests itself, not as the chemical that it is, but it tests out as a mere "petroleum." I don't know if there is any proof to that, I do know that people are still dying for "Unknown Reasons" down yonder. This could be a lie or it could also be that the EPA is waiting to inform the public.
I refuse to eat any Corexit 9500. Consequently I have not had a single fat delicious Gulf shrimp since BP destroyed our waters. I see, in the grocery, imported frozen shrimp from Asia on which I pass, ( I have seen the waters they shrimp from). I also see "farm raised" shrimp. If you have ever visited a shrimp farm you may not want to eat them. I have seen them being raised and floating around in a tank full of shrimp feces. I pass on that too. I am still in quest of a shrimp farm that does the job with the consumers well being in mind. I am sure they are out there and in point of fact I have a lead on one that I plan to visit very soon. I need a plate of shrimp and my birthday will be coming soon. You are all invited if I am able to find good eatable shrimp. Just bring the beer and wine.
I remember the video of the BP suits walking out of the White House after their 15 minute meeting and 20 Billion dollar settlement. They were poking each other and saying "try not to laugh, look serious, look as though we just took a real beating. We can stick it to the American people and make that money back in short order."
Here is my question. Where are those tort lawyers, the ones you see every day on the television set with their commercials for a law suit for "Asbestos/Mesothelioma," and the ones going after the makers of certain anti-depressants and their related birth defects? They say you can even sue when you are dead, which sounds like one heck of a trick to me. Why aren't they signing up every American, every owner of The Gulf of Mexico, and seeking punitive damages for each and every one of us to the tune of $30,000 or more? How about 10 times the amount you spend on gasoline and heating oil over a five year period?
Tim was 100% correct.
Apparently not everyone remembers. Tim does and I do but the proof is in the pudding. Here's the pudding:
http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/93320259.html
Is this what you want answered, Gil???
Really??? And that's all this reserve money is used for??? Really??? No other reasons??? While we're at, I have two questions...just where was the technology - you never responded to Tim's statement.
And I still don't have an answer to mine.
Gil, when you receive your check, please mail it to Tim. Thank you.
MrCool, just a little something to add to this. There is another viner that usually shows up on these BP articles that has a friend that lived in North Florida. The friend is dying and it is believed to have been caused by the spill.
Who knows, the viner that I speak of may show up yet and let us know how her friend is doing.
@Ryan in Texas: Regardless if the food is being harvested at higher rates than before the spill, is in essence the result of "NO HARVESTING" for the past 2 years. And what do you consider safe? just because someone says it's OK, doesn't mean it is.
And as far as BP goes. Read my previous post 1.41.
Gil-2872519 post # 1.4
Are you making a joke? Is your post tongue in cheek? I agree, the United States government does not have the know-how to plug a hole. However they could have hired people who could have hired the right people and companies to get the job done. They could do as BP was forced to do; call in engineers from the private sector and from other oil companies especially Schlumberger Oil.
I remember when this tragedy got flipped upside down by the media. Oh poor British Petroleum and their poor stock holders. They may loose a fortune in this... I thought, at the time, they just might but that is one of the considerations one makes before investing in a company. I also recall reports by the media that BP was in the process of hiding their money, and moving it to some of their other companies in order to be in a position to claim that they did not have the funds to pay for the damages.
Had BP done the above then all it would have taken is an act of congress, charging BP with a high crime, against the United States of America for their destruction of our waters; The Gulf of Mexico, which it was and is. Then our Treasury Department, the Coast Guard and the United States Navy could have acted. Their money could have been taken from their accounts and our many ships could have commandeered; taken hold of their oil producing wells in the name of the people of the United States of America.
AKTazz - They are using Gas Chromatography to test the food. That is the most accurate method. It is clean.
Perhaps you just don't like hearing that fact.
Corexit is 0-1-0-0 on Hazmat. Just a little more dangerous than dish soap.
Every thing under your sink is more toxic, and that gets flushed down the drain into the water supply.
the judge has capped the attorney fees, and the attorneys have all agreed to the cap at4%, of any recovery; the greatest damage is still there; the dispersant's used(banned in all other country;s, has settled to the bottom with the oil it gathered , creating a dead zone of 150 sq miles, where nothing is alive, and will remain there for generations.
Ryan in Texas post # 1.50
I appreciate the lead: " Corexit is 0-1-0-0 on Hazmat. Just a little more dangerous than dish soap."
Where do I find this important information and please tell me who did the study. Thank you.
7.8 Billion dollars is such an amazing amount of money. And it is probably a drop in the bucket to what the oil companies make.
Mr. Cool - And everyone on Newsvine:
I wish to apologize for stating that Corexit is 0-1-0-0 on Hazmat.
It is 1-1-0-0. I can't believe I forgot that it is slightly flammable.
You can Google "Corexit MSDS" (Material Safety Data Sheet) and see the data sheet from the manufacturer. It is the first result. (Every chemical manufacturer in the US maintains these data sheets by law, you can search all of them).
As for toxicity, it is still "1" or slight. Basically if you are in prolonged contact with it, it cleans the oils and fats from your skin. You need those oils or you get really dry skin or dermatitis. As for drinking it, it is not recommended for the same reason. It's not going to kill you, but expect bowel problems such as diarrhea.
It was used in massive quantities on Ixtoc spill in 1979, with good results.
That's why we still use it, it is cheap, safe and effective. There are other products that are cheaper, or more effective - but none have all of those characteristics.
I should also mention the patent ran out a long time ago on it.
I love the Gulf Coast, and it's seafood. I spend time in and on those waters.
But I also relentlessly pursue the truth. If people were watching coverage of this story on BBC, NHK (Japan) or German international news, they got a reasonably unbiased coverage of the BP spill.
It was a tragic spill. Hardworking Americans lost their lives in the explosion.
But so many of the environmental claims and predictions that were posted in the US media as fact have proven to be untrue.
Right now, the area effected by the spill is very limited to a small area that people don't generally go to that I recall as being about the size of a few central parks in NYC. The beaches are open and safe, the seafood is tested and safe. (Uh, we don't test the seafood coming here from China much at all - think about that).
Good luck to all those effected by the spill. As with any major accident, whether there is a large loss of life such as an airplane crash, or far less such as the BP incident - we learn something and work to correct it in the future.
My personal opinion is that the damages are far overblown. States, people - they all want as much money as they can get - so they have no incentive to be unbiased about this. Actual damages are far lower than the numbers you hear.
But still, no company wants to pay out Billions. People call oil companies "greedy" - so clearly they have an incentive to not cause spills that cost so much.
But accidents do happen. Although less than .001% of all oil is spilled - an amazing fact when you consider hundreds of millions of Gallons of petroleum moving around the world each day.
Ryan, thank you for your post and comments here. Great post and I've voted it up.
I most certainly will agree with you on this statement.
I cannot agree that the Deepwater Horizon explosion was an accident. This was ravenous avarice coupled with stupidity. Please consider this 60 Minutes Interview:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/05/22/60-minutes-video-of-bp-oil-rig-accident-survivor.html
chefaz - BP was generally considered to be moving too fast in the industry. That's just gossip, but there is a good bit of consensus on this.
I think this has been a wake up call for BP.
This business is way more competitive than people know. People think the big oil companies collude to raise prices - not so - they are cut throat on pricing and will lower prices to gain market share. They make money on volume, not margin.
Of course, that can lead to cutting corners. I highly doubt Americans would accept them being high markup, low volume companies. Of course, then they could afford all the safety in the world.
Most people have no idea that they only make 5-15 cents per gallon of gasoline in profits.
No doubt that finding that balance is tricky. Still, companies like Exxon have learned from their failures (Valdez), and still remain profitable while not playing as fast and loose as BP.
I understand your points and they are good ones. Still...there are families without their loved ones, businesses handed down for generations destroyed, countless wildlife and vegetation sacrificed with no real answers for their future and Gulf Coast residents sick with no real answers for their future.
A wake-up call for BP??? I dunno...moving key players around, Hayward and Dudley for instance, like chess pieces doesn't really signal a wake-up call although BP was also having problems in Russia so maybe this "movement" would have occurred anyway.
We can debate this all day but I see two important pieces to this:
1. Had the equipment in question been repaired when the problems were reported, we would not be having this discussion today.
2. With all of their resources and abilities at their fingertips, the solutions to a possible problem, like this explosion, should have already been in place rather than the "crap shoot band-aids" that were attempted with failure.
After viewing as much info regarding this tragedy that's been available to me, I stand by my previous statement.
This link is substantial in length and knowledge,,,,,,,,,www.rice.edu/energy/publications/.../NOC_IOCs_Jaffe-Soligo.pdf.
WE have to realise that our production output of oil has declined for forty years,,,,,
"U.S. crude oil production peaked in 1970 and has declined gradually since then. In 1970, domestic production of crude oil (including lease condensate¹) averaged 9.64 million barrels per day (MMbbl/d). In 2006, total U.S. domestic crude oil production, including Federal offshore, averaged 5.102 MMbbl/d, a decrease of about 47% from 1970." http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/research/crude-oil/where-oil-is-produced/ as our oil Corporations have limited their search for oil to sustain a higher price. In their free market they resist future exploration in order to return a higher profit.
"Today, Exxon is the most profitable oil company in the world, with a return on
capital employed of 22%, has distributed $112 billion to shareholders over the
past five years, has the highest return per barrel in the industry ($20 per
barrel produced 2006 -2010), a reserve replacement ratio 210%, with virtually no
debt and no divestiture requirements from ruinous adventures like other
competitors. And the interesting thing is that these rates of return are not be
generated because they are a very large company (just check the poor returns of
comparable European companies), but because of the focus of its strategy."
http://energyandmoney.blogspot.com/2011/04/exxon-was-right-where-will-oil.html#frameId=uWidget20a9e6e60130f5c6a6f0&height=300.
In order for them to be competitive with foreign oil, which are not privately owned, they have to maintain huge returns on Capital, somewhere in the 25%.
Our oil Company's are competing with Nationalized Oil (OPEC and others) and are more efficient, but lag behind in research and development so their return of profit is not diminished and stop the investment by the private sector.
The downturn in production, co-incides with the emerging OPEC Nationalized production.
Now, I'm not normally one to pick on poor spelling or typos as I make them myself, however when you are paid to write articles, simple spell check would be wonderful.
Other then that, I'm very curious as to what exactly the settlement was, sadly I doubt it'll be more then a slap to the wrist for them.
You've got that right!
They'll probably never notice it, especially after the next quarter profits are in.
On the other hand, that whichi really caught my eye, as well. Irksome, isn't it??? Spelling used to count. It is now a lost art, just like ethical corporate accountability is lost...probably somewhere in The Gulf, saturated with Corexit and raw petroleum.
I'm sure there was a Gag Order included in the settlement, which sadly means the people who were hurt by this spill won't be able to tell their story, meanwhile BP will be allowed to spend millions on advertising trying to make themselves look like the hero. It's disgusting how money has perverted every aspect of our society.
Gag order??? hhhmmmm...maybe they could tell their story and then just blame the "error" on a defective gag valve that caused the story to just start spewing out.
One simple approach.....DON'T buy Shell gasoline (or any wholly-owned subsidiary thereof), nor, DON'T buy Shell oil products (motor oil, additives, et. al.) It's called BOYCOTT. Let them go bankrupt. Oh wait....Obama has another trillion dollar mis-carriage of taxpayer-funded bail-out plan for BP. I wonder how much SUPERPAC money BP dealt-out to Presidential campaigns this time around.
vincent you stupid, you did fine until your tounge got wrapped around your eye teeth and you couldn't see what you were saying. our president has to have a level campaign field ,so he has to take super pac funds . but this is a B.P.article .dude
I use Shell gasoline. It is probably more expensive than others and I know it comes from Saudia Arabia, but my truck & car run great on it.
Keep buying SHELL you IDIOT!! Thats what I hate about most of you. You won't all band together and STICK-IT to one company, thus bringing the price of that company down. The rest will follow. You're just like sheep..
I think the inability of these "professionals" to spell which or whatever whichi is supposed to mean, throws up a very small but significant red flag. Like other corporations, the only thing that matters to these people is profit. The problem with this is that a great majority of U.S. citizens depend on the media for education and current events.
Shonymat~
Lol. If that's the only typo/spelling error I've made in that sentence, I consider myself lucky. I think you missed the point though...I'm not PAID to make sure I have correct grammar or spelling and spell check doesn't differentiate between then and than.
The good news is the gulf is even better off now than before the spill. According to the BP and what I saw on FOX this morning we should be paying THEM.
Of course it is more clean. Without all the sea creatures, the reef and every living things down there, it would look much better.
You can think of this as cleaning a pools or aquarium, just kill everything, put oil and chemicals to make it shine and voila.
Yes, indeed it is. Now the blob is working its way up the Atlantic seaboard to the nation's capitol, where noone will notice it.
The good news is the gulf is even better off now than before the spill. According to the BP and what I saw on FOX this morning we should be paying THEM.
Well first you saw it on FOX..so who knows if it is truly better or if SOME PEOPLE say it is...
You're joking right? I mean really, you are joking? You might just be a troll, but if your past is true it is another example of the daily re-education in this country. Actually, while this country thinks it had become some great naiton of all nations, it really is just another group of confused humans soon to fall under the march of time.
stonepipe post #3. You are making a joke right? Paying who? Do you really believe the commercials that BP is paying to run on the television? I sincerely hope not. If so, I urge you to consider making a trip down south and having a chat with those who have made their living, for generations, off the bounty of The Gulf of Mexico.
BILLION IN THE LAST QUATER. WTF I want to know what it will be this year. They will prolly profit billion. Speculators will be the death of this country.
No, no , no.....not a billion in the last quarter. 7.7 BILLION in the last quarter.
And they force a settlement in order to continue these behemoth profits. Who elects our politicians?
I thought we the people elected them................................ wait a second for president we have to go threw the electoral college. We don't elect anyone.
Finally! Only 10 more years to go!
Posted to the wrong place.
Hey, at least the CEO who was in charge of this mess got his $28 million dollars. To the families who lost love ones - Why the F*&( should they get a dime out of this - they knew the risks? So what if some saftey regulations were bent or just ignored? That's just plain capitalism! The families should be paying BP for giving their loved ones jobs!!!
It's like saying let's pay those who bombed the WTC because it created clean-up jobs for the sanitation workers. What a great idea. Good thinking TKK.
BP is the cause gas is jumping so high. This way the consumer pays for oil spill. Also the price of gas will go higher as they tell us the summer blend gas is near again. What the h is a summer blend. A scam by politicians and oil companies to help give them huge proffits during the summer when consumtion is up. I have never heard that the oil companies lost money in any quarter reports. There profits are always in the billions at the consumers expense. A country wide boycott should be against BP oil for two months and see where there profits are then.
Short, sweet and sanitized is what I would call this article.
Too bad I can't say the same for bp or The Gulf.
Didn't they use their magic spray approved by the government and all the oil just disappeared... like magic! Shrimp tastes better with oil anyway, doesn't it? I think a report by the government is due to come out stating that the consumption of petrolium products is healthy.
oh good grief, ThaKhan...hate to admit it BECAUSE I HATE BP and everything that they've done but...your post did make me laff!!!
Please let us know when the report comes out and if it includes any recipes, maybe a Tony Baloney sandwich for instance.
Why is this no surprise? With nobody in our government who really is serious about holding them accountable, there won't be any great changes made. Is there any way to track political donations from this company?
After the Exxon disaster in Alaska, the government wrote a law that the government must take IMMEDIATE control of any future devisating oil spills. Well, you could see how quickly our government took charge of this oil spill as Mr. Obama's biggest election contributers were allowed to run things throughout this entire thing on their own.
Almost 8 billion in profits last quarter ....
They pay fines ....
Gas prices go up and up ....
Who's really paying those fines .... ??
Well, with our government tax dollars going to subsidize the oil industries, well, because you know those businesses making multiple billions of dollars a year can use the extra money - I mean, who better to come up with the bonus money for the executives than the tax payer who has to pay the crazy prices for gas? Right? Thank God our laws are made by millionaire law makers who have to protect their own investments and interests!!!
You really get it .... ThaKhanKubla ....
A vote for you ....
Exactly, it doesn't matter if the government, a company or individuals pick up the tab, governments and companies get their money from us so in the end its us that pays. Costs incurred but not actually apportioned to the product in question is called an externality and gasoline happens to have a lot of them. So once you add these costs in to the actual cost of a gallon of gas, youre looking at $10-$15 is what we actually pay right now for gas. Some of the alternatives looking a little better yet?
corn whiskey burns good in my lawn mower so why not our cars?
No suprise here...the corporate zealot that was hired to administer the money was set there because he would "ENSURE THAT ANY MONEY PAID OUT WOULD BE UNDER THE AMOUNT AGREED UPON" anyone who thinks that money does not control MOST aspects of government is a FOOL.
Exxon Valdez - help was offered by other countries - it was accepted.
BP Gulf spill - help was offered by other countries - it was ignored.
Jeeze - you'd think they had something to hide!
BP was just trying to take the cheep way out ....
Knowing they would be paying out big ....
Read up chxamps on foreign aid.............http://www.factcheck.org/2010/06/oil-spill-foreign-help-and-the-jones-act/
With all do respect, I should be paid for the on-air time it took from my satellite feed.
Check your home page, Bob. Look at the headings going across the top. You will see EARNINGS. Click on that and Voila!!! Your Newsvine $$$.
LOL,,,,,,,,, I need to go shopping tomorrow for a bigger monitor 'cause I can't get that on mine, Thanks.
All of this money will be passed on to the public at the pump.
ticks..ha what goverment ticks
That's the sound of Obama running out of time ....
"
What are you trying to say Chris ....
I know , high gas prices have us all , choked up , too ....
I had a friend named Ben in Alaska, crab boat captain, Georgetown MBA, I suspect he was a little bigger than you are.
Nice photo ....
One of my true hero's ....
And a true hero to all guitarist's ....
Your friend maybe bigger if he was in the MBA ....
Thanks Ben, was sort of hoping you were my old buddy, MBA is masters degree in business administration. Jimi rules.
Do you play Robert .... ??
If so ....
Have you heard The Steve Morse Band .... Coast to Coast CD ....
If not , get it ....
Haven't heard Steve Morse, I will check it out, a girl I lived with for three years married the bass player in the Stevie Ray Vaughn band, she said he thought it was funny that her old boyfriend was named Hendrix.
Stevie was great ....
Hendrix inspired him quite a bit ....
I follow all or most of today's masters ....
Steve Morse , Eric Johnson , Steve Vei , Joe Satriani , ect. ....
So that is your real last name .... ??
Steve Morse is my most listened to now .... he's a true master ....
Yep, Hendrix is my real name, white guy from Minnesota. It is great to hear some names of current musicians that can play. Wish the music industry could promote them a little more.
People unemployed and now they cant afford gas to get to there interviews.
How many spills do you think that the Koch brothers and all their companies have had that the taxpayer is now paying to clean up. Only the big ones make the news but there are hundreds of leaks a day. Superfund sites if I am not mistaken are now fully financed by taxpayers not the polluters any more. I may be wrong but I don't think so. We need to get all lobbyists off the payroll. The only way that we can fix this country is to pay for all elections out of tax money with a cap on spending depending upon the office. From city councilman to the pres all outside money must go. Spend another dime more than waht you are allowed and go straight to jail. In Nigeria there is the equvilant to the Exxon Valdez spll a couple of times a year and most does not get cleaned up because there is no EPA over there. We need better regulations not less regulations, it has been shown by the profits they make that the regulations don't hurt them at all like Fox claims.
I'm for more regulations, cutting subsidies, raising taxes and higher prices like $9 gas in Europe.
they should have to pay 10,000 to every person that was affected by their insolence, whether they want to or not and it cant be dictated by someone who works for them, that way its actually fare. they should also be blocked from being allowed to add the price lost to goods they sell for 10 years as that would actually help our economy by reducing the buyers expenses for basic living and transportation. although it should be illegal to speculate the price of non-renewable resources and the price should only reflect what the cost really is by maybe an increase of not more than .05% past the real price being made by the cost to harvest so it protects the businesses and the consumer from fake inflation. this info may need tuning up for exact accuracy but its close.
Ever notice how the phrase "There will be plenty of time for blame later" ALWAYS morphs into "why are you dwelling on the past"? It's how the screw ups of the world escape to mess up another day
Instant amnesia - now available in a country near you for only 7.8 Billion dollars!!! Flash forward.... 20 years later as I step out onto a beautiful beach in Alabama - foot first into a large warm/ gooey ball of brown BP tar. I can't help but to recall all of those sincere BP commercials on how everything was fixed and made SO right. LOL
Translation: $8.1 billion of direct clean-up costs and $14 billion to the lawyers and PR companies.
Now is the time to Boycott BP for 90 days!
Holy crap! Did the article say BP made $40 Billion in profit in 2011! That's insane!
Hey BP! Dig deeper. You haven't even begun to clean up the Gulf of Mexico and the estuaries along the coastlines of Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Louisiana.
What really sucks about this lawsuit is that the injured ones will be receiving less than the attorneys!
Isn't that how it always works ....
It's still not enough.
The top 12 company executives should be sh ot.