Obama presents BP with a bill.

[Admiral Valdemar]

$70M is pocket change. Let me know when they rack up the final bill, if we ever get that far, and get BP to suck it down. This easily goes into the hundreds of billions to trillions range with future economic impact factored in.

[J]

$70M is pocket change.

It's literally what BP makes in a single day. Think about that.

[Aaron]

Like fuck this will get paid. They'll stall and buy off lobby whoever they need to evade it.

[Starglider]

Presumably this is the thin end of the wedge, in that if it's paid it establishes precedent for future demands?

[Sea Skimmer]

Presumably this is the thin end of the wedge, in that if it's paid it establishes precedent for future demands?

I think you are right on with that. However also do think BP will pay, because it will reduce the pressure they face on other fronts. Even if the government bills them for a billion or two in the end, its better to eat that then have congress even more pissed off. This is not a situation a few lobbyist can brush under the rug. BP is almost sure to face criminal charges over this, and they be much better off facing them if they aren't already being sued for failure to pay for the cleanup. Right now the biggest fear in BP (aside from the leak lasting past August) has to be that they are forced to clean up the wetlands for real. About the only way that could be done is to dredge up everything, clean the oil out of the water and muck, then pump it back and physically rebuild the channels and replant. The cost would easily be hundreds of millions per mile of marsh lined shoreline.

[Temujin]

The funny thing is, based on all the figures that are being bandied about regarding the total cost to clean up the spill, none of them are so great that BP not only couldn't afford to pay them, but really wouldn't be bothered by it. Loss of profits for a few years at best, that's it. And the fuckers will be willing to spend just as much if not more on lobbyists and lawyers to keep from paying.

[Gil Hamilton]

I think you are right on with that. However also do think BP will pay, because it will reduce the pressure they face on other fronts. Even if the government bills them for a billion or two in the end, its better to eat that then have congress even more pissed off. This is not a situation a few lobbyist can brush under the rug. BP is almost sure to face criminal charges over this, and they be much better off facing them if they aren't already being sued for failure to pay for the cleanup. Right now the biggest fear in BP (aside from the leak lasting past August) has to be that they are forced to clean up the wetlands for real. About the only way that could be done is to dredge up everything, clean the oil out of the water and muck, then pump it back and physically rebuild the channels and replant. The cost would easily be hundreds of millions per mile of marsh lined shoreline.

Not to be cynical, but I agree with Starglider and you that this is a wedge for future payments, but I think that's exactly why BP wouldn't want to pay it. It forms a bad precendent for them where they actually have to be financially responsible for mistakes they make. Whether they pay this or not, everyone is already pissed off at them and isn't going to see 70M dollars as much penance (after all, anyone paying attention knows that they lose more than that in their corporate couch). These guys were so absolutely insulated and callous they let the Alaskan Pipeline fall apart and probably have managed to now knock the Exxon-Valdez off the Family Feud #1 slot for worst environmental accident. I very much doubt they expect to actually face jail time, because up until possibly now, the system has reinforced that for the most part, the upper reaches of corporation are immune to consequence. That they may be the suits that the Federal Government is about to make a serious example might occur to them, but I don't think they honestly believe it.

[Oscar Wilde]

Scoping Free Republic, I see cries of "MONEY SHOULD GO TO THE STATES" "How much of this is going to the BUREAUCRATIC SIPHON?!?!?!" "Itemized bill: #1: Obama's new golf clubs (oh and there's this whole "witty" diatribe about how "Is he going to the gulf or going to golf? lololol) #2: Michelle's new wardrobe."

So yea expect some serious rage over this.

[Aaron]

Yeah, because a guy who was wealthy enough to run for President really needs (or is going to) to bill his clubs and clothes to the state.

[Sea Skimmer]

Not to be cynical, but I agree with Starglider and you that this is a wedge for future payments, but I think that's exactly why BP wouldn't want to pay it. It forms a bad precendent for them where they actually have to be financially responsible for mistakes they make.

Since you obviously missed it, BP paid several billion dollars in compensation alone to the victims of the 2005 Texas City explosion. How is that not being financially responsible? That was a much lower profile fuck up then an oil spill larger then some US states too, and yet almost none of the victims had to go to court since BP damn well know it was going to loose. BP is swimming in money and makes a yearly profit of billions of dollars ON TOP of paying a dividen worth over 10 billion a year. BP could pay 10 billion dollars cleaning this up and still show a profit for the year. So no, I don't see them making the entire government come down on them like a ton of bricks when they can easily pay the bill and have no chance of dodging it in court. The whole reason they let things go so bad is because in reality, they can just pay it off and keep going.

[LadyTevar]

Topics merged, since they were both about the White House billing BP for the cost of cleaning up their mess.

[Admiral Valdemar]

BP managed to sell off assets worth billions in Russia also when the government over there took them for a ride over all their new gas well projects. BP can probably easily pay off the bills that the US gov't will bring to bear against them, but the net economic impact to the southern coasts and the ecological damage will easily be more than any company on Earth can afford. You can't put numbers on the loss of biodiversity or the future potential effects on livelihoods caused by lingering chemical residues or other ways the oil can impact on the area.

What this event does do is destroy BP's credibility totally. This is, to quote Robert Rapier, their Bhopal incident when it comes to scale. Union Carbide didn't survive that disaster, and if this leak continues to Christmas, I doubt BP will come out he other end looking the same as they did even several weeks ago (their green image was blown open as a crock of shit a long time ago).

[Illuminatus Primus]

This is a de facto deal/charade (no, I'm not a conspiracist and don't think it was hatched out of secret meetings, just in essence accomplishes the same) between the Obama Administration and BP for PR purposes. Nothing more.

[Jeremy]

What Would Teddy do?

Don't willful violations have any punishment attached or compulsory fixes?

[General Zod]

What Would Teddy do?

Don't willful violations have any punishment attached or compulsory fixes?

Of course they do. But with the amount of money the oil companies pull in the fines amount to little more than a slap on the wrist.

Let's take a look back at BP's horrid track record, courtesy of ABC News:

* Back in 2007, a BP pipeline spilled 200,000 gallons of crude into the Alaskan wilderness. They got hit with $16 million in fines.
* "The Justice Department required the company to pay approximately $353 million as part of an agreement to defer prosecution on charges that the company conspired to manipulate the propane gas market."
* In two separate disasters prior to Deepwater Horizon, 30 BP workers were killed and more than 200 have been seriously injured.
* "According to the Center for Public Integrity, in the last three years, BP refineries in Ohio and Texas have accounted for 97 percent of the "egregious, willful" violations handed out by OSHA"
* OSHA statistics show BP ran up 760 "egregious, willful" safety violations, while Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had eight, Citgo had two and Exxon had one comparable citation.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bp-has-b ... z0qBJ2XWNA

$16 million is the equivalent to a beer and a pretzel for big oil.