Something wicked this way comes……..(Ray Bradbury)
Just outside my front door was the world’s worst environmental disaster ever……..the impact of the oil spill is still being felt and who knows what will be the results of future tests to determine water quality…..BP has ponied up about $50 billion in damages….and there is still NO definitive proof that all is okay…there are a wealth of opinions on the subject….most come from the American Petroleum Institute…..a think tank to convince the multitude that the oil industry is a somehow safe…….I have my doubts.
But thanx to the lame brain thinking of ‘drill baby drill’ the British (BP) are allowed to resume their work in the Gulf……..
BP is taking a big step in its recovery following 2010’s massive oil spill. The US has agreed to lift the 2012 ban that kept the oil company from doing business with the US government—including seeking contracts in the Gulf of Mexico. That means the company can begin competing for new contracts and leases as early as next Wednesday’s scheduled Gulf auction—though its path to the Gulf isn’t quite as neat as that. Per the agreement, it will have to meet increased ethics, corporate governance, and safety requirements, and must foot the bill for annual reviews by an independent auditor for the next five years. Those results will be handed over to the EPA, which can take action should the agreement be “breached,” the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal report. It’s “the best news BP has gotten since the accident,” notes an oil company analyst; to wit, the Journal points out that the 2012 injunction saw the company lose the opportunity to renew military fuel contracts valued at $2.3 billion. “BP has to get back into the hunt in order for them to score.” Others, unsurprisingly, aren’t as thrilled with the news. Activist group Public Citizen says the decision “lets a corporate felon and repeat offender off the hook for its crimes against people and the environment.” Craig Hooks at the EPA, however, says it’s “a fair agreement that requires BP to improve its practices in order to meet the terms we’ve outlined together.”
Wonder what this piece of good news cost BP? Cash was undoubtedly passed around…but the big question should be….who got the cheddar?
One is as bad as the next
True dat…but BP can say they have had the world’s worst oil spill….an environmental disaster….and as far as I can tell not much has changed with this “safety valve”…….
“there are a wealth of opinions on the subject….most come from the American Petroleum Institute … I have my doubts”
As well you should with these plutocrat supporters
“Those results will be handed over to the EPA, which can take action should the agreement be “breached,”
Any pro-corporate cronies in this agency will be more likely to turn their head than they are to enforce necessary strict standards. As bad as it may be now it will surely be worse once a GOP administration regains the White House.
And we can go thru all this over and over…..drilling is getting us nowhere….just making billions for a select few….