

Readers' comments


A Hilton

Kouroi: I can only partly agree since:

1)They are not paying out what is necessary to protect the marshes....just enough for a few workers but not for major machinery or a grand scale plan

2)There are fishermen (not all) who have been working for BP for at least 3 weeks and have yet to get paid...for someone who is paid hourly wages, this is hugely significant

3)They are currently saving money by using the more toxic dispersant because they already have a stockpile of it and therefore can avoid having to shell out extra money for the less toxic version (They also share board members with the company that produces the dispersant they use).

I believe public opinion would be a bit more forgiving if they were not holding back funding on such significant issues. They have no choice to plug the leak but they seem to pay just enough on the environmental damages to make it look like they are doing something while avoiding what is truly necessary.


At least the oil majors have enough liquidity to cover for the risk of an oil spil of this magnitude. On the other hand for banks, the pipe went the other way, from the taxpayer to the bankers. In this context, BP is not such an evil entity.

A Hilton

"BP is getting a bum rap" ?

Willful Safety Violations from OSHA:

Suneco: 8
Citgo: 8
Exxon: 1
BP: 760

Tony Hayward defended this by stating these violations happened years ago which is incorrect. They have occurred over the last 3-4 years.

BP also has the highest refinery death rate of any oil company in the United States.

Tony Hayward reaction to an injunction to force BP to provide cleanup workers with masks and other protective gear:

"I’m sure they were genuinely ill, but whether it was anything to do with dispersants and oil, whether it was food poisoning or some other reason for them being ill. … It’s one of the big issues of keeping the army operating. You know, armies march on their stomachs."

BP is still using a dispersant that is banned in the UK and that has been proven to cause health issues. They have continued despite the EPA asking them to choose a less toxic alternative (which, contrary to BP's statements, is indeed available).

The marshes are already dying (plants and animals). BP has hired a small number of workers to replace ineffective booms and wipe off grass blades...yes...I have seen the images (CNN)...they actually are wiping off blades of grass. Because BP has hired such few workers to protect the marshes, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has asked BP to implement a plan for the cleanup of the marshes. Because BP still has yet to do that, governor Jindal has asked to implement the sand berm plan. BP has refused for several weeks now to pay for that as well.

Notice how the economist online only displays "featured reader comments" that are in defense of BP....the cartoon doesn't stray far from that


We should take their profits and use it to clean up the environment and help those who have lost their livelihoods in this disaster. Why?

(1) It gives oil companies an incentive not to abuse bad regulatory schemes for their own personal profit.

(2) It gives oil companies an incentive not to pollute

(3) It gives oil companies an incentive to include basic safety measures in their operations

(4) It gives oil companies an incentive to show a basic, default level of honesty and integrity when dealing with the public and the government.


@ benwardsbr

so essentially what your saying is that the people whose lives are destroyed, are left with no job and even people who haven't been affected by this disaster should pay simply because they use gasoline. Please explain how using a company's product makes someone responsible for the company's negligence when the consumer had no part to play in the negligence....cause by that logic everytime an accident happens we should all suffer for it regardless of wether or not we actually had a part to play in the accident itself.....

Ed High

Yep. And I can't think of a better source of funding for the cleanup and damages claims. You wanna play you gotta pay. The taxpayer should not have to shell out one dime for this catastrophe and legitimate claims for real damages should be paid promptly. I'm not out to crucify BP, they are no different than any other petroleum explorer/producer, but the ultimate responsibility for this disaster lies with BP and they should pay now just as they profit from their investments when things don't go so tragically wrong.


BP is getting a bum rap..... I'm afraid you do not know how the system works. My experience in the oil field was in the Rocky Mountains, not off shore, but I am sure some things remain constant. The company, BP, makes all plans and gives all orders. If the contractor, Transocean, does not do what it is ordered to do it can and probably will be run off (fired) If Transocean had unilaterally refused to cement without a bottoms up or had refused to replace the heavy mud with sea water they would have been in violation of contract and would not have been paid. That would have been a good idea in retrospect but if it had prevented the disaster it would have ruined the career of the Transocean official who made the decision. What a catch 22 for any person caught in that position. The responsibility must lay with BP, who had representatives on location, and the government agencies who did not do their jobs of regulating the safety of both personnel and the environment. The delay in dealing with the blowout and resulting environmental disaster is inexcusable on the part of both the federal government and BP. As to a post hydrocarbon economy, when you can tell how that works when every realistic solution, Nuclear for instance, is opposed by the same people who oppose hydrocarbon, I will give that concept consideration. As it is the taxes you propose would only serve to further wreck the economy.


Obama has to take advantage of being ahead the market. The 'supply chains' and so forth will delay the teeth of lawsuits sinking in.


BP is getting as bum rap for being too successful. While agency law dumps the problem at its feet, the agents it has used are the on-the-spot professionals that drill for hire, and by the most reliable reports I've seen, were aware of the looming blow-out in time to have taken at least what precautions can be taken in the instants before a calamity.

Of the two levels of responsibility involved, its agents as owners and operators of the rig are the immediately responsible parties. Longer term, the failure to make all citizens, not just those in the adjoining Gulf areas, pay for the privilege of encouraging high hydrocarbon consumption by slapping a meaningful consumption tax on oil & gas goes straight back to our elected representatives, who duck responsibility in the interestof job security.

Myopic popularism is going to make the phase-in period to a post-hydrocarbon economy just that much more expensive, destructive, painful and time consuming


Latest blog posts - All times are GMT
The crisis in Venezuela: Another day, more bodies
Americas view 1 hrs 46 mins ago
A tribute to Robert Ashley: A perfect life
Prospero 1 hrs 29 mins ago
Commodities and the economy: Copper bottomed
Buttonwood's notebook 2 hrs 45 mins ago
Germany's Hoeness trial: Uli goes to jail
Charlemagne 3 hrs 47 mins ago
El Salvador's election: An extraordinary result
Americas view March 13th, 14:13


Products & events