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Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:26 amby xeno
US Coast Guard/Wikipedia
This story first appeared in The Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
BP has announced that it will square off against the federal government in court next week to fight "excessive" claims arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.
In a combative statement, the oil giant said it had been open to a settlement in the civil trial, set to start on Monday in a federal court in New Orleans. But it had failed to reach a deal with federal government lawyers.
The trial could potentially result in $21 billion in civil damages for BP, but the company said on Tuesday it would rather take its chances in court than continue negotiations with federal government lawyers.
"Faced with demands that are excessive and not based on reality or the merits of the case, we are going to trial," said Rupert Bondy, the BP's general counsel, said in a statement.
The trial is the last major hurdle to BP's efforts to move beyond the fatal blowout of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which killed 11 people and resulted in the biggest oil spill in US history.
BP has already accepted criminal responsibility for the disaster, pleading guilty last November to manslaughter and lying to Congress and paying $4.5 billion in fines. It reached a separate $7.8 billion settlement earlier last year with thousands of local individuals that suffered economic damages because of the oil disaster.
But Bondy indicated the company had become stuck trying to reach a deal on the big ticket item: up to $21 billion in fines for environmental damage arising from the oil disaster.
The fines, which would be levied under the Clean Water Act, would go directly for coastal restoration in Louisiana, Mississippi, and other Gulf states. More than 40 lawyers for federal and state governments are expected to be in court on Monday.
At issue are BP's efforts to stop the doomed Macondo well, which gushed for three months before it was finally sealed off by company engineers.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/02/bp-fight-governments-excessive-demands-over-deepwater-horizonThey should be liquidated and sold off piece by piece to help pay for the damage they've done to my beloved gulf.
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:42 amby Frigidus
I'm sure everyone else has forgotten by now, but I've made sure not to get my gas from BP ever since the spill. f*ck them.
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:46 amby xeno
Frigidus wrote:I'm sure everyone else has forgotten by now, but I've made sure not to get my gas from BP ever since the spill. f*ck them.
Coming from a southern louisianaian who can't safely fish in the waters I grew up fishing in I thank you.
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 2:04 amby jonesthecurl
The fact that they are scumbags and the fact that it's a British company are not related. Don't expect a slew of Brits defending them. I certainly won't.
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 4:27 amby xeno
jonesthecurl wrote:The fact that they are scumbags and the fact that it's a British company are not related. Don't expect a slew of Brits defending them. I certainly won't.
I knew someone was going to say I was trying to make this correlation when I really wasn't.
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:17 amby Fruitcake
let's not mention Bhopal then.
let's not mention the Torrey canyon disaster (an American Company - the Union Oil Company of California) which obliterated wild life on our beaches here. Interesting extract from wikipedia which says:
Claims were made by the British and French governments against the owners of the vessel and the subsequent settlement was the largest ever in marine history for an oil claim. The British government was only able to serve its writ against the owners by arresting the Torrey Canyon's sister ship, the Lake Palourde, when she put in for provisions at Singapore, four months after the oil spill. A young British lawyer, Anthony O'Connor, from a Singaporean law firm, Drew & Napier, was deputised to arrest the ship on behalf of the British government by attaching a writ to its mast. O'Connor was able to board the ship and serve the writ as the ship's crew thought he was a whisky salesman. The French government, alerted to the Lake Palourde's presence, pursued the ship with motor boats but were unable to board and serve their writ.
just so we put this in perspective, around 15000 sea birds were killed and all fish within a 75 mile radius.
Turning, once more to disasters affecting human tragedy. 1988 in the North Sea, 167 men died in the Piper Alpha rig disaster operated by Occidental, an American company, total insured loss was about £1.7 billion (US$3.4 billion). Present day value $6.5 billion
Your hand wringing and outrageous comment about scumbag Brits is quite incredible. Your country has a quite terrible record for walking away from disasters and not doing the right thing.
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:21 amby jonesthecurl
xeno wrote:jonesthecurl wrote:The fact that they are scumbags and the fact that it's a British company are not related. Don't expect a slew of Brits defending them. I certainly won't.
I knew someone was going to say I was trying to make this correlation when I really wasn't.
So why mention it?
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 12:49 pmby tzor
Gee, and I just filled up my tank with BP gas the other day ... It has "Invigorate."
Who knows, I might even do it again ... six months from now.
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 2:16 pmby Gypsys Kiss
xeno wrote:jonesthecurl wrote:The fact that they are scumbags and the fact that it's a British company are not related. Don't expect a slew of Brits defending them. I certainly won't.
I knew someone was going to say I was trying to make this correlation when I really wasn't.
In that case you wont mind changing it to 'Bp looking like scumbag Brits according to hypocritical scumbag Americans'
Dont get me wrong, I'm not make a correlation
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 2:23 pmby tzor
In all honesty, having worked for a company that was run by the Brits (until some dirt bag lawyer from Manhattan took over, went to Canary Warf and outsourced half of the company) which was later bought out by a Canadian, I can honestly say I know a little about Brits and while they have their flaws, they are not scumbags. It would probably require a lot of research to determine if BP does suffer from the fundamental flaws of British corporate management (generally an over emphasis on process over result, a tendency to stove pipe divisions and a tendency to implement roadblocks to prevent problems from being reported and solutions from being implemented).
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 2:29 pmby smegal69
why Just BP, has Haliburton not got Oil all over there hands too?
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 2:42 pmby xeno
jonesthecurl wrote:xeno wrote:jonesthecurl wrote:The fact that they are scumbags and the fact that it's a British company are not related. Don't expect a slew of Brits defending them. I certainly won't.
I knew someone was going to say I was trying to make this correlation when I really wasn't.
So why mention it?
I could say the same to you. Why mention anything in this forum?
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 2:51 pmby xeno
Gypsys Kiss wrote:xeno wrote:jonesthecurl wrote:The fact that they are scumbags and the fact that it's a British company are not related. Don't expect a slew of Brits defending them. I certainly won't.
I knew someone was going to say I was trying to make this correlation when I really wasn't.
In that case you wont mind changing it to 'Bp looking like scumbag Brits according to hypocritical scumbag Americans'
Dont get me wrong, I'm not make a correlation
Aww did the Brit get offended? I'm sorry if I don't see the hypocrisy. And Halliburton is basically just in charge of drilling the wells and the materials used. I would say there is a bit of egg on their face but not as much as bp who contracted them
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 3:21 pmby crispybits
So the American company that drilled the well and decided on the materials used (which failed) and caused the spill are fine - it's all that damn BPs fault for giving them the contract! Damn fine argument you have there!
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 3:28 pmby john9blue
jonesthecurl wrote:The fact that they are scumbags and the fact that it's a British company are not related. Don't expect a slew of Brits defending them. I certainly won't.
i hope you said this in all of pedro's anti-american bullshit threads.
how does this make BP scumbags btw? just because they are british doesn't mean they are scumbags, it just increases the odds of it.
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 3:30 pmby xeno
crispybits wrote:So the American company that drilled the well and decided on the materials used (which failed) and caused the spill are fine - it's all that damn BPs fault for giving them the contract! Damn fine argument you have there!
Reread my post. I said both are to blame
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 5:18 pmby jonesthecurl
xeno wrote:crispybits wrote:So the American company that drilled the well and decided on the materials used (which failed) and caused the spill are fine - it's all that damn BPs fault for giving them the contract! Damn fine argument you have there!
Reread my post. I said both are to blame
So it's scumbag brits and scumbag Americans?
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 5:23 pmby crispybits
Naah apparently it's scumbag Brits and Americans with a little bit of egg on their face...
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 5:43 pmby xeno
It was still bp managing the well. I know you're butt hurt what with your native country being in their name but don't let your patriotism blind you from what happened
Re: Bp looking like scumbag Brits
Posted:
Sat Feb 23, 2013 6:11 pmby crispybits
the irony is strong in you!
I have no particular affection for BP, patriotic or not, and I think they are culpable in a way for what happened for the oversight/management mistakes, but for an American (you know, that country that repeatedly blocks international envvironmental treaties) to call us scumbags because the well an American company drilled in American waters, cemented by an American/Arabian company and for which the safety contract was held by another American company, and through which the oil was being extracted by a Swiss/American company, exploded? That's pure comedy!