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Today's Top News
Obama Administration Allows BP Back Into the Bidding for Gulf Oil Drilling Rights
US regulator declines to enforce 'death penalty' on oil company despite environmentalists' fury
The Obama administration has infuriated environmentalists by giving BP the green light to bid for new drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico.
"Governments should be administering the death penalty to all deepwater drilling rather than waiting for yet more devastating incidents like the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico or in any other part of the world," argued Craig Bennett, director of policy and campaigns at Friends of the Earth. (photo: Lee Celano/Reuters) The move – seen as a major step in the company's political rehabilitation as an offshore driller following the Deepwater Horizon accident – was revealed by the head of the US safety regulator after a congressional hearing in Washington.
"They don't have a deeply flawed record offshore," said Michael Bromwich, head of the newly formed Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. "The question is: 'Do you administer the administrative death penalty based on one incident?', and we have concluded that's not appropriate."
Drilling rights are sold off on a regular basis but many believed BP would be ruled out as unsuitable after the gulf well blowout that killed 11 workers and polluted the beaches of southern states. The next sale comes up in December, when more than 8m hectares (20m acres) of offshore rights will come up for grabs.
BP declined to comment, but Friends of the Earth said it was appalled. "Governments should be administering the death penalty to all deepwater drilling rather than waiting for yet more devastating incidents like the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico or in any other part of the world," argued Craig Bennett, director of policy and campaigns at the environmental group.
"It is not just BP operations that are deeply flawed," he added. "There is not a single oil company that can say with a high degree of confidence that it can drill safely and how it will clear up if something goes wrong. It is clear in the context of climate change we need to develop new clean technologies, not hunt for fossil fuels in ever more remote and hard-to-reach areas."
BP has already introduced changes to its offshore safety regime that it claims now leaves it with tougher standards than the regulator demands, but it has yet to gain approval to drill new wells.
The oil company has for many years been the biggest operator in the gulf, but it was pilloried by politicians after the Deepwater Horizon spill and its former chief executive, Tony Hayward, was said to be the most hated person in the US.
Over the last 18 months, BP has gradually seen some of its reputation rebuilt, not least because several studies have suggested that US contractors on the project, such as Transocean and Halliburton, ought to share some of the blame. BP has also helped itself by paying for a massive clean-up and compensation programme, but it still faces huge lawsuits and even possible criminal charges.
On Thursday BP, Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig, and well-cementing specialist Halliburton were formally charged with breaches of offshore regulations on 15 separate occasions. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of $35,000 per violation per day but the real threat to BP is if it is found guilty of gross negligence by any court – which would trigger billion-dollar claims under the US's Clean Water Act.
BP, now with its first American chief executive in Bob Dudley, was keen to emphasise the significance of the two contractors being drawn into the legal net, because those firms have argued that BP was at the heart of the Gulf accident. BP is trying to convince them to contribute their share of the compensation it has paid out already. "The issuance today of notices of non-compliance to BP, Transocean and Halliburton makes clear that contractors, like operators, are responsible for properly conducting their deepwater drilling activities and are accountable to the US government and the American public for their conduct," said BP in a statement.
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28 Comments so far
Show AllHow is BP still in business? Why isn't there a world wide boycott of this company? It boggles my mind when I see people here in America gassing up at their stations.
If you have noticed, the BP label has been growing smaller at their stations. Its replaced by that jolly green, rather an anonymous, logo.
And how many Americans know that BP stands for British Petroleum? Not even our own home grown criminals.
I also suspect, like other big companies, they sell their same stuff to the generic and little known stations.
How many people are aware that Goldman Sachs and many other companies pulled their stocks out of BP 3 weeks before the well blew? GS took out over 246 million.
Or that Halliburton bought an oil clean up company 3 weeks before it blew?
They knew there was a problem with the blow out thing. They knew it was coming.
sorry, I don't have the link. This info was posted on CD last year right after it happened.
And of course they will continue to drill. Obama said himself that drilling was safe.
Remember?
What you say assumes that GS and Hal were acting on inside information, and that's not possible, because such insider information is not legal, and pertinent laws are enforced.
Just kidding.
I could say it a thousand times as it applies to 99% of the articles here: this is just another perverse symptom of capitalism.
Adverse side effects from your medication? No problem, the drug companies can continue selling it while they investigate the problems. Defective deepwater drilling technology? Don't worry, it won't be so bad next time there is a spill. Instead of hundreds of millions of gallons, they might be able to hold it down to tens of millions of gallons. Missed your mortgage payment because you lost you job? You're out on the street, sucker!
I ended up in the hospital from taking lipitor, now my health will never be the same, a rare but serious condition came close to my death, when I recovered enough to be mobile my doctor wanted me to try it again, he is truly a Phizer salesman but no doubt has a handsome income and great kickbacks, protect the wealthy at any costs, the working class are disposable.
So sorry to hear of your misfortune at the hands of our top-to-bottom corrupt society. I don't know what damage was done to you, but it sounds frightening. Cholesterol-wise, it might be worth looking into supplements and unprocessed foods.
[A few years ago, I took Lipitor for only 2 or 3 weeks before I felt so sick, and in so much pain, I simply stopped on my own. While my total cholesterol has always been high, my 'good' cholesterol and triglyceride numbers are excellent, but doctors have been so well trained, and rewarded, by pharma to push their drugs that they simply never deviate from their prescribing regime. So I defy them and take lots of supplements like Omega 3 and eat a lot of good stuff like fiber...but of course all the vitamins in the world can't ward off the toxic effects of health care in America.]
Take care and good luck to you.
Allowing BP back into the Gulf bidding is disgusting.
Perhaps Obama could sell advertising space on his jackets for corporate logos to be sewn on and seen at various times and events? For highly visible times such as during the State of the Nation speech I bet that the area over his heart would sell for quite a lot of money.
Possibly BP could afford a tattoo on Obama's right hand.
It might not be a bad idea if politicians were forbidden to take money or benefits in any form from any corporation, directly or indirectly, unless they immediately sewed that corporation's name on all their jackets and shirts worn in public. Kind of like putting a bell on a cat.
Speaking of cats, here is a you-tube link to the Mouseland speech that Tommy Douglas used to give.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEYwVb-6TeE&feature=related
and a nice dramatization of it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_wDL8XcRwU
When will BP finish making repairs and reparations for their catastrophies in the Gulfs of Alaska and Mexico? Or was a campaign bribe considered to be payment in full?
It would appear so.
Hmmm, maybe Obama's re-election "war chest" wasn't doing as well as he had hoped and he had to dig (or drill) a little deeper ...
Guess he must have convinced Cheney to leave his Rolodex in the WH when he left (did he leave?) ...
Those were my thoughts as well.
Or else he's now setting his sights on $2 billion.
Now that Obama's been to visit the queen of england he has decided that BP deserves another chance, just so that her stock portfolio can stay healthy.
Drill Baby, Drill. Yes, We Can! Hope and Change 2008. War is peace.
It is amazing that BP has such deep pockets that it can buy it's way back into "our" Gulf, before it has even made good on restoring the environmental damage to "Our Gulf", the livelyhood of the "Gulf" fisherman, and the overall psyche of the people whose lives will never be the same. I say screw BP and the rest of those bloddy bastards ! Let them eat fish, tainted by their own profit margin ! Perhaps they will then become sick of themselves.
Texas
We're not even sure the Deepwater isn't still leaking.
Wait a minute - you mean Obama is once more siding with the Plutocracy against environmental issues he trumpeted during his campaign?? My dear Lord, it almost appears that Obama is a corporate whore, and that just cannot be.
Any Obamabots who still come to CD - PLEASE let's hear your spin on this latest betrayal by the Golden Whore. If for no other reason, that it actually amuses me to hear the lengths to which you lemmings will twist the truth so it fits in with your deluded image of your messiah.
Bu, bu, but, he speaks with southern baptist preacher cadence just like Dr. King.
Not even close. The only thing they share in common is skin color. When you consider Dr. King's memorial was outsourced to China the distinctions are even sharper.
It's also worth noting that Obama changes how he sounds depending on who he is talking to. One of the first and most glaring signs of sociopathology is the inability to have a fixed and stable talking/speaking voice for all audiences. In Obama's case, when I can be bothered to even listen to him, I've noticed that in front of large gatherings of rich supporters he talks fast, thinks on his feet, no pauses. In front of black people, he tries his darndest to sound folksy, all chuckles and jibes. In front of everyone else he speaks down to them, as a techer, an authority, lots of pauses and silent ponderings, very serious. As if we were children. Little children.
I'll take your word on it, as I stopped listening to him after the speech he gave in Berlin while campaigning.
God that was an awful one wasn't it? Every single one of his speeches gets more 'rah-rah' , "we're number one" as he stumbles through his term...but that one was just about the most jingoistic pile of junk I've ever heard. Only Obama could have the 'guts' to go to other countries with established beloved socialist traditions and then slander them and their traditions right to their damn faces. How unbelivably rude! He even took pot-shots at the NHS while visiting Britain awhile back, coming close to actually calling it a failure. Right to the Brits faces. Very "bold" behavior.
And trying to recruit them for the war on terror.
It's reminiscent of Frank Zappa mocking his paid audiences.
"Show me your thumb if you're really dumb."
He's nothing but vapid, second rate actor.
BP is being very brave and also patriotic in wanting to generously keep supplying oil to the American people from new gulf wells after the Deepwater Horizon was attacked by green groups which caused the explosion, the subsequent tragic loss of the rig itself, and the minor environmental incident which was quickly and efficiently dealt with and is well and truly over.
BP needs to be applauded for being so very, very brave.
Bravo BP! Bravo!
Godspeed!
We can only hope that when BP and other oil companies start drilling in pristine Arctic areas that the hostile weather will keep those terrorist green groups at bay for awhile but you must remember that any future disasters will no doubt have been perpetrated by such insidious people with no regard to property.