Gulf Oil Spill Bound BP, Feds Together - AP

[WillyT]

Gulf Oil Spill Bound BP, Feds Together: AP
HARRY R. WEBER | 08/21/10 11:02 AM | AP

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NEW ORLEANS — For months, the U.S. government talked with a boot-on-the-neck toughness about BP, with the president wondering aloud about whose butt to kick.

But privately, it worked hand-in-hand with the oil giant to cap the runaway Gulf well and chose to effectively be the company's banker – allowing future drilling revenues to potentially be used as collateral for a victim compensation fund.

Now, with a new round of investigative hearings set to begin Monday on BP's home turf and the disaster largely off the front pages, there's worry BP PLC could get a slap on the wrist from its behind-the-scenes partner. That could trickle down to states hurt by the spill and hoping for large fines because they may share in the pie.

"I don't think they've been as tough as they should have been from Day 1," said Billy Nungesser, president of Lousiana's hard-hit Plaquemines Parish. "We were at war. You don't go to war and hope people respond."

In the past few weeks, public messages from BP and the government have been almost in lockstep. The government even released a report – criticized by academic researchers and some lawmakers as too rosy – asserting that much of the oil released into the Gulf is gone, playing into BP's message that its unprecedented response effort is working. A recent AP poll shows that BP's image, which took a beating after the oil spill, is recovering.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said Thursday that White House support for the oil report shows the administration's "pre-occupation with the public relations of the oil spill has superseded the realities on the ground."

That differs from the atmosphere early on, when BP was the recipient of some very tough talk from the government. A little more than a week after President Barack Obama's on-air comment about "whose ass to kick" in early June, BP executives encouraged White House officials at a meeting in Washington to back off on the rhetoric. They reminded the government that a bankrupt company pays no bills, according to a person who was briefed on the details of the meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

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More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/21/gulf-oil-spill-bound-bp-f_n_690060.html

:kick:

[mother earth]

1. Issa should take a look at his own party, but of course, why do that

when ours provides fuel for the cannon? Where was his voice when Bush & Cheney gutted the country? And what of the oversight that never was and the in bed relationship during those same Bush years? Please, STFU, or call it like it is, Issa. You are so transparent, and yes, we do like transparency, for those with eyes to see, but those who are still sleepwalking....are soaking this up like they always have. Why are we not screaming from the rooftops that this BS will not be new boss, same as the old boss? Scream...scream it!