"BP is allowed to live while the Gulf dies"

 former oil industry employee Glenn Stehle: 

The outcome of Obama’s meeting with BP was an incredible disappointment. After all the tough talk, the end result is that Obama came away with what the little boy shot at.

According to the NY Times, “the oil giant will create a $20 billion fund to pay claims.”

But here’s the kicker: the preliminary terms of Obama’s agreement with BP “would give BP several years to deposit the full amount into the fund so it could better manage cash flow, maintain its financial viability and not scare off investors.”

So BP is allowed to live while the Gulf dies.

The tragedy is that the people on the front lines of this battle don’t need money and resources in a month, or six months, or in “several” years. They need the resources now.

Could St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro have made it any clearer? “Just like he [Obama] referred to WWII and putting a man on the moon, those operations were successful because there were equipment and resources provided to make those missions successful,” Taffaro spelled it out for the President. “That’s what we need here in the Gulf Coast Region, enough resources and assets so that we can make this a successful fight against this oil spill.”

But BP, a company who generated $27.7 billion in cash last year and paid out $10.5 billion in dividends, is allowed to diddle, given years to come up with $20 billion.

“Let’s get serious about this,” Tony Kennon, Mayor of Orange Beach, Alabama pleaded. “I feel like sometimes we’re in the Land of Oz. This is a catastrophe of Biblical proportions, and we’re acting like it’s an everyday, run-of-the-mill oil spill. It is time to attack the problem and fix it offshore.”

But apparently Obama learned nothing during his well-publicized tour of the Gulf Coast region yesterday. At least he didn’t listen to anything the guys in the trenches had to say. BP should “not be in a position where they can have power to veto anything,” Taffaro counseled. The government “should be able to force the issue here, and that’s where the breakdown has come in.”

 

Posted via email from Jim Nichols