Considering fishing losses are projected to be in the billions, BP is getting off with a slap on the wrist.
And that's assuming they'll even pay it out rather than fight every claim tooth and nail for the next two decades. Which they will fight it. BP makes Snidely Whiplash look downright ethical.
Considering fishing losses are projected to be in the billions, BP is getting off with a slap on the wrist.
And that's assuming they'll even pay it out rather than fight every claim tooth and nail for the next two decades. Which they will fight it. BP makes Snidely Whiplash look downright ethical.
I'm not quite so sure they'll be getting away easily.
"We are absolutely responsible for the oil, for cleaning it up, and that's what we intend to do," Heyward said.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano are meeting with top BP officials in Washington Monday to discuss the crisis, and Napolitano told ABC's "Good Morning America" that she will press for assurance that the company has set up a clear process for individuals and communities impacted by the spill to file claims.
"They are the responsibility party," Napolitano said. "They are going to end up paying for the federal government's cost, for the states' and, most importantly, for the individuals and communities that are going to be most directly impacted."
Also, Obama said the exact same thing: BP will be covering all the costs.
Considering fishing losses are projected to be in the billions, BP is getting off with a slap on the wrist.
And that's assuming they'll even pay it out rather than fight every claim tooth and nail for the next two decades. Which they will fight it. BP makes Snidely Whiplash look downright ethical.
I'm not quite so sure they'll be getting away easily.
"We are absolutely responsible for the oil, for cleaning it up, and that's what we intend to do," Heyward said.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano are meeting with top BP officials in Washington Monday to discuss the crisis, and Napolitano told ABC's "Good Morning America" that she will press for assurance that the company has set up a clear process for individuals and communities impacted by the spill to file claims.
"They are the responsibility party," Napolitano said. "They are going to end up paying for the federal government's cost, for the states' and, most importantly, for the individuals and communities that are going to be most directly impacted."
Also, Obama said the exact same thing: BP will be covering all the costs.
BP is responsible for the cost of containment and cleanup. The liability limit is the cap on what BP has to pay out for damage claims.
It's pretty moot, since BP is going to fight all of the claims anyway.
Is there any legal basis for making BP pay everything? I mean I want to as well but if there isn't, more money will be wasted in court fighting an unobtainable claim
This might be big enough to where BP can't just wash their hands of it through legal magicks.
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LudiousI just wanted a sandwich A temporally dislocated QuiznosRegistered Userregular
edited May 2010
I thought this was a nice visual representation of the whole disaster, and why the riser disintegrating would be bad. In addition to what drilling a relief well entails and helps make it clear why it may take a while.
DrakeEdgelord TrashBelow the ecliptic plane.Registered Userregular
edited May 2010
Damn, NOAA's website is inaccessible. I guess it's to be expected, but still you'd think they'd give them some extra bandwidth considering the circumstances.
So is that statistic on the visual aid wrong? Because that just adds up to 5000 barrels a day, which is way under what I've been hearing.
Yeah, they are using an older estimate in the graphic. They may have had it prepared before the latest estimate, and I don't think the new estimate has been adopted officially yet.
Under the law that established the reserve, called the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, the operators of the offshore rig face no more than $75 million in liability for the damages that might be claimed by individuals, companies or the government, although they are responsible for the cost of containing and cleaning up the spill.
What I believe the law states is that BP is required to pay no more than 75 million to each individual or company. It doesn't mean that "Here are thousands of people and businesses, collectively, you only owe 75 million." It means "Here are thousands of people and businesses. You owe each up to 75 million dollars."
The problem therein is that some companies will lose much more than 75 million over the course of the next decade or so dealing with struggling fish populations. Not to mention that if you're an employee of a company, I'm certain that if your company receives liability funds, then you will not.
This is such a clusterfuck. I mean, really, there's no way BP can pay all those individuals AND the cleanup. Most important is cleanup, and then anything else, BP should pay well more than 75 million to people who were affected, because this isn't an immediate problem. Oil spills aren't just cleaned up. We are talking years of damage.
There are sections of the Persian Gulf that are completely destroyed. Iraq, during the gulf war, deliberately dumped approximately 450 - 500 MILLION gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf to prevent the US from launching a naval strike.
Even if it limited BP's total liability to $75m, the government could still legally enact a special new "Companies named beyond petroleum" tax of 100%
Its all a matter of political will.
I'm calling it now though, the Republicans are going to fight tooth and nail against regulating this (laws mandating inspections every 2 months, etc)
Honestly I think how it should go down is BP be placed in receivership, all of their documents and internal memos examined (and oh golly I bet we'd find some wrongdoing and number fudging), criminal charges pursued against people who could have known something like this might happen and done nothing, and the company being completely dismantled. That won't happen, at best we'll get a few billion out of them, but hey I can dream.
Alabama Attorney General Troy King said tonight that he has told representatives of BP Plc. that they should stop circulating settlement agreements among coastal Alabamians.
The agreements, King said, essentially require that people give up the right to sue in exchange for payment of up to $5,000.
King said BP's efforts were particularly strong in Bayou La Batre.
The attorney general said he is prohibited from giving legal advice to private citizens, but added that "people need to proceed with caution and understand the ramifications before signing something like that.
I also saw a report that the fishermen hired to lay out the containment booms have a similar waiver in their contract from BP.
Is it fucked up that before I even contemplated the ecological devastation that this is probably going to end up causing I immediately contemplated the political angle?
I think I've been deep into politics for way too long.
Friend in edit: oops Dauphin Island said you can smell it really strongly on the breeze.
Dumb fuck was all "Drill Baby Drill" before this. So sad that it takes a disaster like this is going to become before people realize that it isn't just a bunch of dirty hippies saying this is a bad idea. The risk of it going horribly horribly wrong just isn't worth it.
The more I read about this the more I fear that the white beaches I remember will soon be covered in black sludge filled with rotting birds and sea life
Darkchampion3d on
Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence --Thomas Jefferson
Smaller gobs of oil that are then diluted into the ocean. So um, at least it doesn't make landfall?
Even if they get it all dissolved, there's still a load of dissolved oil mucking up the water. And there's still the negative externalities of the chemicals, which aren't great.
That was a very, very small silver lining. More like a silver film, and most of it is nickel. Their stock prices will be up again looong before the gulf feels all of the effects of this.
Alabama Attorney General Troy King said tonight that he has told representatives of BP Plc. that they should stop circulating settlement agreements among coastal Alabamians.
The agreements, King said, essentially require that people give up the right to sue in exchange for payment of up to $5,000.
King said BP's efforts were particularly strong in Bayou La Batre.
The attorney general said he is prohibited from giving legal advice to private citizens, but added that "people need to proceed with caution and understand the ramifications before signing something like that.
I also saw a report that the fishermen hired to lay out the containment booms have a similar waiver in their contract from BP.
yeah, it's in the article that nexus linked....
also, what's with the caps in the subject? i mean, this is a horrible, possibly unprecedented ecological disaster but it just makes me think of forwarded emails from nutjob relatives.
Do we know what these dispersants do to the environment and how they actually "break down oil" and to what the oil is broken down too?
The dispersants are a hydrocarbon based compound from what I understand. It's toxic too, and it just breaks the oil down into tiny droplets. It doesn't eradicate the oil or anything like that. It's a choice between toxicity on shore or toxicity in the sea. Also, it's a product made by the oil companies, that they sell to themselves and then claim as a tax write-off.
Friend in Panama City said you can smell it really strongly on the breeze.
Dumb fuck was all "Drill Baby Drill" before this. So sad that it takes a disaster like this is going to become before people realize that it isn't just a bunch of dirty hippies saying this is a bad idea. The risk of it going horribly horribly wrong just isn't worth it.
The more I read about this the more I fear that the white beaches I remember will soon be covered in black sludge filled with rotting birds and sea life
Safety standards in the gulf are apparently hilarious.
I'm sitting here typing on a laptop bought with oil money in a house bought with oil money sipping an oil martini
and I totally agree that with the way things are done in the gulf being all drill baby drill is dumb.
Wouldn't it be better to have it on the shore than in the water? I would think the ecosystem under the water is more important both ecologically and economically than anything living near the coast.
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And humanity will be eating each other.
Considering fishing losses are projected to be in the billions, BP is getting off with a slap on the wrist.
And that's assuming they'll even pay it out rather than fight every claim tooth and nail for the next two decades. Which they will fight it. BP makes Snidely Whiplash look downright ethical.
I'm not quite so sure they'll be getting away easily.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/03/AR2010050301669_2.html?hpid=topnews
Also, Obama said the exact same thing: BP will be covering all the costs.
BP is responsible for the cost of containment and cleanup. The liability limit is the cap on what BP has to pay out for damage claims.
It's pretty moot, since BP is going to fight all of the claims anyway.
That's exactly right.
Is it 55?
BP may go belly up from this
42 gallons per barrel.
Possible, but doubtful. Their liability (beyond the cost of cleanup and containment) is limited to . . $75 million.
What a fucking joke. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/us/02liability.html
Yeah, they are using an older estimate in the graphic. They may have had it prepared before the latest estimate, and I don't think the new estimate has been adopted officially yet.
BP has already said they're responsible and will pay for all the damages, so it seems like it would be an easy case.
What I believe the law states is that BP is required to pay no more than 75 million to each individual or company. It doesn't mean that "Here are thousands of people and businesses, collectively, you only owe 75 million." It means "Here are thousands of people and businesses. You owe each up to 75 million dollars."
The problem therein is that some companies will lose much more than 75 million over the course of the next decade or so dealing with struggling fish populations. Not to mention that if you're an employee of a company, I'm certain that if your company receives liability funds, then you will not.
This is such a clusterfuck. I mean, really, there's no way BP can pay all those individuals AND the cleanup. Most important is cleanup, and then anything else, BP should pay well more than 75 million to people who were affected, because this isn't an immediate problem. Oil spills aren't just cleaned up. We are talking years of damage.
There are sections of the Persian Gulf that are completely destroyed. Iraq, during the gulf war, deliberately dumped approximately 450 - 500 MILLION gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf to prevent the US from launching a naval strike.
3DSFF: 5026-4429-6577
The most disturbing thing about this whole situation is the uncertainty - not knowing just how bad it's going to get, while it slowly builds.
Look at how big the spill has gotten in two weeks. Now scale that up across the months it's going to take to stop it.
Now look at how big the gulf stream is relative to that and how many countries it touches.
BP being total dicks here but I'll wait to see more confirmation.
Claims that BP is giving businesses the option to get immediate damages of...$5000 in exchange for signing away most of their rights to sue
Its all a matter of political will.
I'm calling it now though, the Republicans are going to fight tooth and nail against regulating this (laws mandating inspections every 2 months, etc)
Honestly I think how it should go down is BP be placed in receivership, all of their documents and internal memos examined (and oh golly I bet we'd find some wrongdoing and number fudging), criminal charges pursued against people who could have known something like this might happen and done nothing, and the company being completely dismantled. That won't happen, at best we'll get a few billion out of them, but hey I can dream.
100% Accurate.
3DSFF: 5026-4429-6577
Whether or not they're going to pay what they should, remains to be seen.
EDIT: They're certainly showing they're going to fight to not pay
3DSFF: 5026-4429-6577
Do you have the chemical name or whatever? I can see what I can dig up
BP told to stop circulating settlement agreements with coastal Alabamians
I also saw a report that the fishermen hired to lay out the containment booms have a similar waiver in their contract from BP.
I think I've been deep into politics for way too long.
Dumb fuck was all "Drill Baby Drill" before this. So sad that it takes a disaster like this is going to become before people realize that it isn't just a bunch of dirty hippies saying this is a bad idea. The risk of it going horribly horribly wrong just isn't worth it.
The more I read about this the more I fear that the white beaches I remember will soon be covered in black sludge filled with rotting birds and sea life
Even if they get it all dissolved, there's still a load of dissolved oil mucking up the water. And there's still the negative externalities of the chemicals, which aren't great.
That was a very, very small silver lining. More like a silver film, and most of it is nickel. Their stock prices will be up again looong before the gulf feels all of the effects of this.
plus, it's poisonous like woah and will kill tons of fish.
yeah, it's in the article that nexus linked....
also, what's with the caps in the subject? i mean, this is a horrible, possibly unprecedented ecological disaster but it just makes me think of forwarded emails from nutjob relatives.
The dispersants are a hydrocarbon based compound from what I understand. It's toxic too, and it just breaks the oil down into tiny droplets. It doesn't eradicate the oil or anything like that. It's a choice between toxicity on shore or toxicity in the sea. Also, it's a product made by the oil companies, that they sell to themselves and then claim as a tax write-off.
Safety standards in the gulf are apparently hilarious.
I'm sitting here typing on a laptop bought with oil money in a house bought with oil money sipping an oil martini
and I totally agree that with the way things are done in the gulf being all drill baby drill is dumb.
...I'm not holding my breath. :?