White House says BP will pay cost of oil cleanup

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration says the cost of cleaning up a giant oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico will fall on BP PLC, the company that operated the rig.

White House spokesman Nick Shapiro says President Barack Obama has directed his administration to aggressively confront the oil spill. The military is working to determine how its array of aircraft, ships and equipment might be able to assist the cleanup operation.

<snip>

Shapiro says Obama was updated on the spill early Thursday. Although the Coast Guard and other federal agencies are supporting the cleanup, Shapiro says BP will be required to pay for it.


Read more: http://www.ydr.com/ci_14982836

---

It's good to have that officially clarified by the president.

[CatWoman]

1. yes Lone Star

very good.

:thumbsup:

[polichick]

2. Some damage just can't be paid for - no matter what the rhetoric. nt

[glinda]

12. sadly true

[LiberalAndProud]

3. I am beginning to fear $5-$6/gallon prices at the pump.

Certainly, BP will pay.

[grahamhgreen]

23. You gas users should be paying $10 for polluting our air!

Or more - whatever it takes to get us of the oil teet!

[LiberalAndProud]

39. Sanctimonious much?

I'm sure you don't depend on fossil fuels at all for anything. Right?

right.

BP's profits will not be harmed by this disaster. Working Americans WILL pay, and I don't believe that it's a matter of moving to the competition. They all scratch each other's backs.

[JBoy]

4. Good. This is what will kill offshore drilling.

Potential liability will make the costs too high.

[stubtoe]

17. Lordy, let's hope so.

[closeupready]

33. Amen.

+2

[City Lights]

5. Charge them and arm and a leg.

Make a huge profit cleaning up after them. Screw BP.

[Holy Moly]

38. an arm and a leg and...

make that an arm and a leg
and a penis so they can't
screw us any more

[tridim]

6. And I assume BP will eventually sue the pants off of Halliburton.

That's such a wonderful thought.

[LuckyLib]

7. Well I should hope to scream. And that should be only the beginning, given

the expected environmental and economic damage.

[kirby]

8. Why has Obama been silent so long?

I mean, when this major disaster occurred, I had assumed the DoD and/or Fema or someone was working as hard as possible to contain the spill. However it seems that now that BP has been unsuccessful for over a week, only now is there mention of sending in major support from the US Govt. WTF! The article says the 'military is working to determine'...Again, WTF!

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. And the eleven-or more- lives lost? What will help with that cost? For that matter,

what of ALL the soldiers and civilian lives lost in the pursuit of profits in our Wars for Oil?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

10. I wish the White House good luck

in trying to do all the accounting, and the collecting, on this.

It'll take some very smart people to sum up the environmental damage into a quantity of dollars (or pounds or euros).

:hi:

[saigon68]

11. Its empty rhetoric

Little or none of the real cost will ever be paid by these eco-mining thugs


DRILL BABY DRILL !!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9D3epQL704

[raouldukelives]

13. I'll believe it when I see it.

[seafan]

14. Interesting: BP claims they weren't the company operating the rig when it exploded.

White House says BP will pay cost of oil cleanup, April 29, 2010


Also, BP's Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles says that a "few other companies" co-own the lease to this well, along with BP.


In this thread.




I wonder whether Halliburton poured the cement on this well...




Oh, wait, apparently the answer is 'yes'.

NEW ORLEANS - The widow of a crew member killed in last week's oil platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico has filed a lawsuit accusing the companies that operated the rig with negligence, court documents showed Tuesday.

The suit was filed by Natalie Roshto against Transocean Ltd, British Petroleum and Halliburton after the blast that killed her husband Shane, a seaman on the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig.

"Shane Roshto was one of (the) crew members thrown to his death," according to a copy of the suit.

"After six days, Shane Roshto's body has not been found, despite an extensive and thorough search orchestrated by the United States (Coast) Guard which lasted several days."

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount in monetary damages "sufficient to adequately compensate" Roshto for her husband's death.

Her lawsuit charges that Halliburton, an oil services industry firm which prior to the explosion "was engaged in cementing operations of the well and wellcap... improperly and negligently performed these duties, which was a cause of the explosion."

The suit also blamed Transocean and British energy giant BP for various alleged acts of negligence, including "failing to provide a competent crew" and "failing to exercise due care and caution."

.....

[Wizard777]

15. Uuuuuuh, have they even collected the Valdez damages from Exxon yet?

The last I had heard on that Exxon was telling the Fed screw you it's too much and we won't pay. So the Fed lowered the amount. Exxon told them screw you! It's still to high and we won't pay. You know the oil company's think just like Goldman Sachs. It may be a disaster. But we still have to make a profit off of it and we've done nothing wrong. Who in the hell do they think taught Wall Street how to think like that? It was the damned Oil Companies! The Oil Companies get away with that crap all the time. Now Wall Street want to be able to get away with that crap too.

[LuckyLib]

16. Add this tragedy to Louisiana's environmental history: best book on

the area, read Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast by Mike Tidwell. Excellent read.

[riskpeace]

18. How about the cost of the looming economic catastrophe?

I'm disappointed in the response of the administration. Unless this well is capped, the slick will likely soil huge chunks of Gulf shoreline, including Florida beaches. I live in Panama City Beach; and it's just a matter of time before the winds shift and oil fouls our beautiful beaches and our county's largest economic resource -- the 28 miles of white sandy beach.

I would urge the administration to start having President Obama take a more active role. There appears to be a lack of urgency and a lack of timely information. Agencies seem to still be "mulling options" and "gathering information." Where is the urgent action to help the Gulf Coast avoid this natural and economic catastrophe? Will the federal government urgently act before it is too late? It may already be too late for the seafood industry and shoreline of LA and MS. How about the Port of Mobile and Mobile Bay? Will there be a solution before the tourist industry in Florida is decimated as the state tries to climb out of a terrible recession?

These are the questions I hear my neighbors ask along with more and more comparisons to Katrina.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. I'm curious as to what more the federal government can do at this time

Really, now that both of the safeguards have failed to close the valve what do you expect this administration to do? It's not as if they're the ones responsible for not requiring a remote shutoff valve. That was Bush/Cheney in 2003. The current administration can't drill the relief wells. All they can do is send in the Coast Guard and to a lesser degree other military support to attempt to contain, and assist in the cleanup of the spill. But really the best we have to offer is the US Coast Guard in regards to an oil spill, and they're already there and have been from day one. Sadly, we don't have a miracle way to cap off a deep water well like this one. Which is why we should have had better safeguards in the first place.

[riskpeace]

21. This accident happened about ten days ago now.

The Coast Guard has been issuing scripted, vague remarks with very little real information. Go check the NOAA recovery website with information about the incident. Here's what it says today:

"Current NOAA efforts are focused on: gathering more information about the spill, planning for open water and shoreline remediation, and readying for environmental assessment and response."

They just updated the 3-day old trajectory map of the spill this morning. I looked on the web sites for the Departments of Commerce and Labor. There was no information about the administration's plans for dealing with the economic impact of this disaster.

How about the incredible diving personnel and equipment that are at NSA-Panama City? They have not been involved at all.

It seems to me that the Obama administration should have taken the lack of safeguards into account before they came out in support of expanded drilling.

On edit: BP is just starting to drill a relief well today. And the Coast Guard just began to burn off the oil yesterday. Why did both of these remediation efforts take more than a week to begin?

This is a environmental and economic disaster playing out in slow motion. I urge the administration to speed up their response.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

22. Alright

Starting at the bottom.

BP is just starting to drill a relief well today. And the Coast Guard just began to burn off the oil yesterday. Why did both of these remediation efforts take more than a week to begin?

They found out on Tuesday that the submarines were unable to close the valve, thus making relief wells the only option. They are a last resort because they will take 90 days to provide relief. They began the burn on the first day the weather permitted.

It seems to me that the Obama administration should have taken the lack of safeguards into account before they came out in support of expanded drilling.

Perhaps that's why it's still in the investigative/study stage?

How about the incredible diving personnel and equipment that are at NSA-Panama City? They have not been involved at all.


It's not that it cannot be reached (the subs have been there) it's that it cannot be closed. It's dead, Jim.

They just updated the 3-day old trajectory map of the spill this morning. I looked on the web sites for the Departments of Commerce and Labor. There was no information about the administration's plans for dealing with the economic impact of this disaster.


You're kidding right? You expect them to have already ascertained every possible horrific outcome and have an economic relief plan posted for you to read. Really?

The Coast Guard has been issuing scripted, vague remarks with very little real information. Go check the NOAA recovery website with information about the incident. Here's what it says today:

"Current NOAA efforts are focused on: gathering more information about the spill, planning for open water and shoreline remediation, and readying for environmental assessment and response."

The dynamics of the spill have been changing daily. The Coast Guard is on the scene dealing with the spill and preparing for all the possible outcomes. That seems pretty clear to me.

[riskpeace]

24. Thanks for your reply.

I'd rather not get into a logical, point-by-point debate about an issue that is so emotional for Gulf Coast residents. It's a catastrophe and will have economic and environmental impacts. I think the administration's response has lacked urgency. That's my opinion and it's shared by more and more people I speak with daily.

I was reading last week about the need for relief wells and the inability of the subs to close the valve. That extra week of oil seeping into the Gulf may add to an already tragic situation.

I don't know whether better equipment -- like the advanced dive equipment in Panama City -- could affect the outcome. I'm not convinced that you have that level of inside information to know either. It seems worth a try.

I did not say I thought there should be a plan available. I think there should be information on the Commerce and Labor web sites about options and planning.

The Coast Guard and NOAA have sure been doing a lot of observing and planning. After more than a week of observing the Coast Guard's response, I don't have a lot of confidence in their information or urgency. That's just my opinion and may well be filtered through the anxiety of the looming catastrophe.

[GOTV]

19. Yeah, he can say that. I can say it too. Hell, let's ALL say it. It feels good!

[al bupp]

25. BP Will Pay Oil-Spill Costs, White House Says

Source: Bloomberg

BP Plc will have to pay the costs associated with an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after last week’s explosion of a well that is leaking as much as 5,000 barrels of crude a day, the Obama administration said today.

President Barack Obama has received several updates on the spill from the damaged BP well, which is now leaking at a rate five times more than previously estimated, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said. Obama was updated at the beginning of his daily intelligence briefing this morning as well as last night aboard Air Force One.

“As they’ve said since the incident occurred, BP as the responsible party is required to fund the cost of the response and cleanup operations and they are doing that,” Shapiro said.


Read more: http://preview.bloomberg.com/news/2010-04-29/bp-will-pay-oil-spill-costs-white-house-says.html

[global1]

26. We All Know What That Means - We'll Be Paying For This At The Pump.....

We all know that BP will stick it to the American Consumer in raising the price of gas at the pump. Now if the WH also puts in some controls that this wouldn't happen - I'd really respect them. But I don't think the WH will do that.

[GOTV]

34. You won't. Because it's too easy to buy gas from another company...

... and gas is gas.

If they make their gas more expensive than competitor's gas they will lose big time.

[Taverner]

27. Tell it to the fish...

[rocktivity]

28. Which they'll simply pass on to us.

How about some legislating preventing that?

:shrug:
rocktivity

[GOTV]

35. Then buy your gas elsewhere.

[Jefferson23]

29. Spill baby spill.

They ought to pay for the cost of what fishermen are going to lose
in revenue too. Among other expenses, they can't fix what is happening to the marine life, the damage is awful.

Crazy to think you can fix this with just money...poof, all done now, let's move on.

[avaistheone1]

30. Will that be before or after Exxon pays for the1989 Valdez oil spill in Alaska?

That bill is still unpaid.


:spray:

[JCMach1]

31. Oh, *snap*

:fistbump:

[and-justice-for-all]

32. Damn right they should pay for it...nt

[Odin2005]

36. BP will fight it in court for eternity without paying.

[Nihil]

40. Well, it works for Exxon ... and Chevron ... and ...

Anyone who thinks that a trite press-release from a politician
will change the behaviour of a multinational oil company is
spending too much time "under the influence" ...
:shrug:

[hugo_from_TN]

37. That's the law on the books, so I'm not sure why the WH needs to state it.