BP Links Compensation With Continued Oil Production In The Gulf

[kpete]

Source: Huffington Post

BP Links Compensation With Continued Oil Production In The Gulf

BP has managed to link the fate of its $20 billion oil spill victims compensation fund with its continued ability to pump oil from the Gulf of Mexico.

The voluntary trust agreement negotiated with the Department of Justice is not with the British-based multinational, or even with BP America, but with a fairly remote subsidiary, BP Exploration & Production Inc. (BPEC) -- a Delaware corporation that operates BP's Gulf oil leases.

So if BP's drilling revenues from the Gulf suddenly vanished, so, presumably, would the compensation fund, said Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen's Energy Program.

"This is a very advantageous agreement from BP's point of view," Slocum told the Huffington Post. "Because their big concern is that the Deepwater Horizon incident would result in sanctions that would significantly reduce BP's involvement in lucrative Gulf operations."



Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/11/bp-links-compensation-wit_n_679171.html

[Sanity Claws]

1. DOJ should sue the fucking bastards immediately

[hugo_from_TN]

9. Uh, DOJ is who negotiated this agreement with BP.

I guess you missed that part.

[Sanity Claws]

12. But the deal was not contingent

It sounds like BP is trying to rewrite the deal by adding conditions on which it will pay the agreed upon sum.
That sum should have been paid already. It hasn't been paid and therefore BP is in breach.

[Dr.Phool]

17. They're already denying claims for hotels on the beaches.

Today's St. Pete Times reported that if they didn't have oiled beaches, they weren't getting paid. Never mind that all their customers canceled vacation plans and reservations because of the spill.

Nobody ever saw that coming.:sarcasm:

[GOTV]

21. It should have been paid upfront but the agreement was to pay over 4 years ...

... gives them lots of time to legislate, debate, equivocate, delay and evade. I suspect all those involved knew all about these possibilities.

[dipsydoodle]

23. They wouldn't have agreed to that.

.

[GOTV]

24. Speculation. And if true would that be worse? I'm not convinced they're going to pay now ...

... and we have a so called "agreement". I suspect we were played like suckers - again.

[fogonthelake]

15. well the WH wanted this agreement so we have it. Simple as that.

[GOTV]

25. And the agreement apparently has a major loophole.

[rachael7]

2. Gee, what a surprise...

that another backroom deal cut by the administration ends up working out to protect a big corporation at the expense of the rest of us. Color me shocked. Not.

[NC_Nurse]

3. +1

[Vincardog]

20. What? Do you mean to tell me that back room pro-business deals are happening in the WH? I am SHOCKED

[think]

4. What a crock of shit

BP should be forced to pay for damages regardless of their ability to drill in the gulf period. And BP should also be required to spend billions on equipment to be better prepared for any future disasters.

I can't wait for oil to be a part of our past........

[rfranklin]

5. You can bet that this company can go bankrupt without affecting...

the fortunes of the worldwide BP corporation. That would leave all the injured parties with no recourse.

[Realityhack]

6. How about 'US links BP's continued existance to compensation'. n/t

[MBS]

7. Grotesque n/t

[niyad]

8. colour me totally unsurprised--didn't believe a word of the compensation fund from the beginning.

I would love to be wrong in my cynicism, but rarely am.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

10. Now's your chance, Mr. President. Show us what you got.

Show the Professional Left what you can do when you want to.

...Hello? Hello??? Is this thing on??? ....... :shrug:

[truthisfreedom]

11. Not surprised. Typical day-to-day business.

[raouldukelives]

13. I don't want to sound like a professional drug addict

So great job! I am fully confident this decision is the best we can do.

[GOTV]

14. It seems someone is losing their 7 dimensional chess game ....

... there was no need to embargo $20 billion in BP assets as collateral or to demand the money up front. Who could have imagined that a giant corporation might play games to avoid it's responsibilities.

No one could see that coming.

[notadmblnd]

16. Once again the Government has bent over backward to accomodate big business

while the people these big businesses hurt get screwed. BP should have had their assets seized and criminal charges implemented against them. But no, now they get to extort the American people.

[ArcticFox]

18. Way to go Obama! THREE CHEERS!!!

Lets hear it for the Democrats with yet another MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENT of the Obama Administration. Now, in addition to protecting insurance company profits against peasants' rights to receive benefits and ensuring that large banks can continue to see enormous revenues by gouging customers and "gaming" the system, Obama has ensured British Petroleum's continued well-being regardless what damage is eventually revealed in the Gulf of Mexico. AWESOME!

I wish I could kiss Obama's feet and those of all his cabinet secretaries. I hope they still have the smell of the Constitution that they've been busy trampling on since last January. And while I was doing it, you can bet I would be thanking them over and over for sending un-manned killer robots over there to blow up all those terrorists that are trying to invade our FATHER-, er, HOMELAND. I do truly believe I owe my continued existence to the Obama Administration's UN-ERRING destruction of all the evil doers.

Also, I would like to mention that I just read that Kucinich will not challenge Obama in the next primary. DAMN STRAIGHT! I can't think of anything that would satisfy me less than to have that LEFTIST in the White House. I heard Kucinich wants to merge us with Canada so we can have some of that um um good CANADIAN HEALTHCARE. Well, you know what I say to that: "Thanks, but no thanks, thank you very much." I can treat my own open sores - I don't need some SOCIALIST CANADIAN "doctor" to tell me I've got gangrene.

[Buns_of_Fire]

19. Drill, baby, DRILL!!!

(If you know what's good for you...)

[Zorra]

22. A perfect example of why corporations should have no influence on government whatsoever.

Their entire MO is profit, and they will always strive to profit even if it means killing people, even the planet itself, in the name of making profits.

First step is to completely and irrevocably outlaw lobbying by private enterprise.