We can’t do anything to solve the leaking oil in the Gulf Coast – but a Daily Kos writer is suggesting that we can at least boycott BP/ARCO Gas. I agree.
We should have seen this coming. ARCO paid a record $3 .5 million fine for safety violations that led to a deadly explosion and fire at the company’s Channelview plant, in 1991. That fine would eventually seem like pocket change, compared to what was yet to come.
On 23 March 2005, an explosion occurred at BP’s Texas City Refinery. It is the third largest refinery in the US and one of the largest in the world, processing 433,000 barrels (68,800 m3) of crude oil per day and accounting for 3% of that nation’s gasoline supply. Over 100 were injured, and 15 were dead, including employees of the Fluor Corporation as well as BP. BP agreed that its mismanagement contributed to the accident. Level indicators failed, leading to overfilling of a heater, and light hydrocarbons spread throughout the area. An unidentified ignition source set off the explosion.
On 30 October 2009 the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) imposed an $87 million fine on the company for failing to correct safety hazards revealed in the 2005 explosion. The fine was the largest in OSHA’s history.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, BP is the United States’ hundredth largest donor to political campaigns, having contributed more than US$5 million since 1990, 72% and 28% of which went to Republican and Democratic recipients, respectively.
Heard enough? Please don’t buy gas at BP/ARCO stations. Click here to join the Facebook Boycott BP group.
A more productive use of our time and energy would be DEMANDING INVESTIGATIONS INTO CHENEY’S SECRET ENERGY MEETINGS, don’t fool yourself, most likely what BP did and does is standard operating procedure on these oil rigs. What we need is STRICTER GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS AND MORE OVERSIGHT.
It will be poetic justice if the state that gave us Dick and George and their deregulatin’ ways, ends up getting clobbered by this giant ugly oil slick, ‘cuz remember, elections matter.
On second thought, maybe we should boycott BP.
Just found this on the DailyKos;
Alabama Attorney General Troy King said tonight that he has told representatives of BP Plc. that they should stop circulating settlement agreements among coastal Alabamians.
The agreements, King said, essentially require that people give up the right to sue in exchange for payment of up to $5,000.
King said BP’s efforts were particularly strong in Bayou La Batre.
The attorney general said he is prohibited from giving legal advice to private citizens, but added that “people need to proceed with caution and understand the ramifications before signing something like that.
“They should seek appropriate counsel to make sure their rights are protected,” King said.
By the end of Sunday, BP aimed to sign up 500 fishing boats in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida to deploy boom.
BP had distributed a contract to fishermen it was hiring that waived their right to sue BP and required confidentiality and other items, sparking protests in Louisiana and elsewhere.
maybe we should boycott the daily kooks website . some of the most hatefull far left trash comes from that site . does not surprise me hater anoster gets all her info from there . she is one of them . goes into her chenney /bush rederick . hey anoster it was bush /chenney fault that the oil spill took place .
Grating one,
“hey anoster it was bush /chenney fault that the oil spill took place”
Yeah, I’m GLAD YOU AGREE WITH ME, if the BUSH ADMINISTRATION ALLOWED these oil rigs to be built WITHOUT safeguard devices, then the dirty oil slick LEADS RIGHT TO THEIR DOORSTEP. It’s called CAUSE AND EFFECT, Dick and George may be out of office but their ROTTEN POLICIES will be creating havoc for years to come.
FYI;
“Papantonio implicated Dick Cheney as well on Ed Schultz’s show. As Papantonio pointed out and The Wall Street Journal reported, the Leaking Oil Well Lacked [a] Safeguard Device:
The oil well spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico didn’t have a remote-control shut-off switch used in two other major oil-producing nations as last-resort protection against underwater spills.
The lack of the device, called an acoustic switch, could amplify concerns over the environmental impact of offshore drilling after the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig last week.
…U.S. regulators don’t mandate use of the remote-control device on offshore rigs, and the Deepwater Horizon, hired by oil giant BP PLC, didn’t have one. With the remote control, a crew can attempt to trigger an underwater valve that shuts down the well even if the oil rig itself is damaged or evacuated.
…The U.S. considered requiring a remote-controlled shut-off mechanism several years ago, but drilling companies questioned its cost and effectiveness, according to the agency overseeing offshore drilling. The agency, the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service, says it decided the remote device wasn’t needed because rigs had other back-up plans to cut off a well.
…An acoustic trigger costs about $500,000, industry officials said. The Deepwater Horizon had a replacement cost of about $560 million, and BP says it is spending $6 million a day to battle the oil spill. On Wednesday, crews set fire to part of the oil spill in an attempt to limit environmental damage.
Some major oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell PLC and France’s Total SA, sometimes use the device even where regulators don’t call for it. Read on…
Papantonio laid the blame squarely in Dick Cheney’s lap and said this was one of the deregulations of the energy industry that was negotiated during his secret meetings with oil industry and other energy executives during George Bush’s first term in office and called this the biggest under-reported aspect of this disaster.”
Grating One,
Are you defending BP? Are you telling us you think they’re a virtuous organization, and that trying to get potential victims of this spill to sign away their rights is a good thing?
Go ahead, we’d like to hear you defend them.
An Associate just informed me that when they worked security for BP. Somebody spilled some coffee cream in the bathroom resulting in a hazmat team shutting down one of the offices for several hours.
#5, this is what I love about these folks who bitch and bitch about enforcing the law when it comes to Mexican immigration: “It’s the law! What is it about illegal you don’t understand?”
When it comes to practically any OTHER laws – laws that really matter as far as protecting people and the earth – they don’t care all that much.
Exactly, Vern…and then those people act surprised, given that we can see that inconsistency, that other people think maybe, just maybe, racial animus is REALLY their prime motivator…not some sort of righteous respect for the rule of law.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703572504575214593564769072.html
Did Haliburton cause this disaster? Found this link on the WSJ today. Seems Haliburton could be directly responsible for this disaster. I know I hate keep blaming Haliburton for everything but when they are the ones who keep fucking up , I don’t have a choice.
…maybe, just maybe, racial animus is REALLY their prime motivator…
And since they wouldn’t know the word animus if it gave them an enema, I’ll just go ahead and call it racial HATE.
I hate keep blaming Haliburton for everything but when they are the ones who keep fucking up , I don’t have a choice.
Since you’re describing a company run by a Vice-President who told Senator Leahy to “Go fuck himself” on the Senate floor (not even the Joker in Dark Knight was so rude to Senator Leahy) I’ll allow your f-bomb to stand, but you’re on f-ng notice gericault!
anoster did bush blow up the towers too .?
Grating one,
“did bush blow up the towers too .?”
We may never know, but we DO KNOW that he sure as hell DIDN’T KEEP US SAFE, what a totally f-ed-up administration!
Papantonio laid the blame squarely in Dick Cheney’s lap and said this was one of the deregulations of the energy industry that was negotiated during his secret meetings with oil industry
Secret meetings. oooooh…wait for me. I need to borrow my neighbor’s tinfoil hat. Be right back.
Well, middleground, the fact these meetings occurred is a matter of historical record.
So is the fact that Cheney has steadfastly refused to disclose who was there or what was discussed, despite lawsuits from conservative good-government group Judicial Watch.
So, do we not call those “secret meetings” just because some clown like middleground will make fun of us with tinfoil-hat talk? Secret meetings they were. And if we ever knew more about them, they would probably explain a lot of what happened in those dark years, which we’re still suffering from.
HE DIDNT KEEP UP SAFE . HOW MANY ATTACKS ON US SINCE 9 -11 . ITS FAR LEFT ANTI AMERICANS LIKE YOU ANOSTER . TRYING TO STOP ALL THE HOMELAND SECURITY MESURES TO LET THE TERRORIST GET AWAY WITH MORE STUFF .. get off the daily kooks website and media matters and you might learn something . he dint keep us safe cmon stevie wonder .
Well..wait a second,
if… the fact that Cheney has steadfastly refused to disclose who was there or what was discussed, despite lawsuits from conservative good-government group Judicial Watch.
then how do you get this…Papantonio laid the blame squarely in Dick Cheney’s lap and said this was one of the deregulations of the energy industry that was negotiated during his secret meetings with oil industry
If cheney didn’t talk, did somebody else spill the beans to papantonio about what went on in those secret meetings?
Can’t speak for the Pap, maybe he’s just guessing, maybe there’s overwhelming circumstantial evidence that’s what went down, maybe he does have a source, I just DUNNO!
Let’s see. We got anonster quoting a report of what the Pap said on the Ed Show. At any point “might have happened” could have become “did happen.” Sounds like a pretty reasonable assumption of what might have been discussed at the meetings, given everything we know. Maybe anonster can address this when she gets back from work at her antique store.
Assuming you care of course. Even though this is a very important issue, I suspect you’re just doing your little thing of flitting about trying to find minor sloppinesses and trivial contradictions in the comments of progressives whom you should maybe be dealing with constructively when it comes to environmental catastrophes and the causes leading to them.
Even though this is a very important issue…
Of course it’s important. I don’t like offshore drilling. We don’t need to offshore drill.
Do me a favor. Watch the first 3 minutes of this guy. Yes…he’s pushing a book. But it doesn’t mean he’s lying to us. I’d be fascinated to know what you think about him (and what he knows). Just the first 3 minutes.
Lindsey Williams – The Energy Non-Crisis – Part 1 of 8
OK MG, I put it up on your comment so we can all look at it. This better be good now. (I gotta run, I’ll be back)
Thanks for setting up the link.
I happen to believe this guy. Listen to what he says and think about this:
Why do our leaders (D or R) continually disappoint us.
Do you honestly consider Clinton and Obama to be friends of the left? The far right calls Obama a socialist, even though he has governed (actions not words) as a near replica of BushII. You yourself said Obama has let you down on many fronts. And if Bush I and Bush II are just mean old nasty repuglicans as viewed by the left, then why were they considered RINOs by most of the GOP (me included). Crazy huh?
How about this? Remember the post calling for a senate vote to audit of the Fed? Where did $2T go? I took the low road(because that’s who I am), but another commenter said it should be a no-brainer. This is absolutely correct. For the life of me, I cannot imagine why anyone would NOT want to audit the federal reserve. I’m not trying to play politics, the Ds have all the power, but the Rs could get the ball rolling if they wanted. Yet..I doubt you will EVER see the Fed audited. Why? Why?
Do you follow world politics? Any idea what is happening in Greece? Greenland? Don’t give a sht because they are too far away? Dude…It’s coming to a theater near you. Soon. Read up.
And just by virtue of their life experiences, older people in this country know that “something” is wrong and they have formed an organization..a tea party. True…maybe they can’t put their finger on it yet, but they are figuring it out. It’s clicking with them that something (or someone) is and has been working against our country for a long time. And it has NOTHING to do with a black president. NOTHING. Instead of inane ridicule, how about some empathy for these people. Strange as it may appear, they are trying to help you/us.
Good God man…start thinking. Step away from the herd. Right now there are nefarious entities plotting against you and me and future generations.
I’d love to get into how we are being conned into a giving up the life blood of our economy…oil. But it’s sleepy time for me here in EDT land. Nighty Nite. Oh..pleasant dreams
Arco is now covering up their signs that say ” part of BP’
APPARENTLY the boycotters do not know how to add and subtract…… Let’s see here………. boycott BP, they lose MILLIONS of dollars, file bankruptcy cannot pay for the oil spill, and GUESS WHO has to pay for it now, US TAXPAYERS!!!! Wooo hoo way to go people!!! obama wants to roll back the tax credit for ALL oil companies, GUESS WHAT….they will stop producing, but YOU PEOPLE will not stop driving your cars and SUV’s….so gas will now be $12 a gallon, and we are paying unbelievable amounts to the arab nations producing oil. What is wrong with people honestly, do you know know ANYTHING about economics?? Don’t fret the president doesn’t either. Lets put the oil companies out of business, no one can afford gas but the well off, our cars become junk. Car manufacturers and dealers go out of business as well as all the companies that supply them, Away goes the jobs including UNION jobs. Back to bicycles, skateboards, skates, and horse and buggies. Then when cap and trade gets in, and we can no longer afford our utilities, we fade to dark. Crime skyrockets, … and on and on and on…. people just think of what feels good now and not what the consequences of their actions will do down the road. You liberals just need to go find some land and live there off the land with no conveniences gas, utilities, cars, and recycle everything and make your living off the land and be in tune with mother nature. But we all know what hypocrites you are,driving your cars and flying in your jets.