We’ve Hurt BP With Our Mistrust. We’re So Thoughtless…
Not to end your Monday by making your head explode, but allow me to end your Monday by making your head explode. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t ask your head to do anything mine hasn’t already done. Here’s the transcript of an interview between CNN’s Candy Crowley and BP Managing Director Robert Dudley.
It really makes me wish that Rachel Maddow was doing this interview and that it lasted for 20 minutes, because this had the making of another Rand Paul-style self immolation by Dudley. But considering the short time alloted, it was still pretty good.
First, before you play the interview, or read the transcript below, please remove all sharp or breakable objects and liquids from your reach. That includes coffee cups, decorative figurines, or anything that would make a satisfying wall crash. It also includes things like forks and letter openers that you may feel tempted to shove into your temple to relieve the pressure.
Crowley: You can’t really clean all of this up environmentally. There is some lasting damage that will go into decades, will it not?
Dudley: It… it…uh… there’s no question that this much oil in the ocean is going to take a long time to clean it up. It’s different than the Valdez spill because it’s much warmer waters, the biological processes will work faster, but you can clean up the beaches… the marshes are very very sensitive. They’re not as simple to get in and clean. There are techniques that will be done. There was a lot of oil spilled in that area after Hurricane Katrina and the marshes have recovered. But we will undoubtedly measure and investigate the results of this spill for many many years to try to determine the long term impacts of this. And we’re committed to both cleaning it up, studying it, understanding it.
According to the Minerals Management Service (bureau of the Dept. of the Interior) Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused 124 oil spills totalling 17,700 barrels = 743,400 gallons total.
This spill, depending who you believe (and let’s believe the experts) has already leaked well over 100,000,000 gallons. For the zero challenged, that’s one hundred million gallons. (see widget in lower right corner of the page) Thanks for trying to make us feel better, though, BP. That’s like saying, “Look I’ve had one drink, and everything worked out just fine… So I’m sure it’ll work just the same way if I have a hundred.”
Crowley: Among the problems that you have faced, you have a very big PR problem. It all centers around the word “trust.” I want to play you something from Congressman Ed Markey that he said this week.
Markey: I think that now we’re beginning to understand that we cannot trust BP. People do not trust the experts any longer. BP has lost all credibility. Now the decisions will have to be made by others because it’s clear that they have been hiding the actual consequences of the spill.
Crowley: That is pretty tough stuff. I think it stems from a lot of things. First of all, no one believes that only 5000 barrels of oil are coming up off the ocean floor. A lot of people think that BP has been covering up and not telling people what’s actually going on. How do you respond to the idea that you’ve even got people on Capitol Hill that don’t believe a word you’re saying.
Dudley: Well, all of us at BP are trying to solve the problem. Those words hurt a little bit because we’ve been open about what we’re doing. What we’re doing is certainly not anything in secret. We’ve had direct oversight and involvement from government agencies from the very first hours afterwards. There is an imprecision around the measurement of that crude oil which, I’ve used the analogy that it’s … it is a little bit like popping a soda can rushing out with lots of gas and oil. There’s a lot of gas in this crude. The rate is unclear. We’re measuring and producing some of that today, but in terms of not trusting BP, there’s nobody…nobody who is more devastated by what has happened, and nobody that wants to shut this off more than we do, and learn what happened so this never happens anywhere to anyone anywhere in the world again. So, I think we’re being open with all investigations.
Here’s a little tip for the PR-challenged. First, when you’ve just devastated a third of the country’s shore line, incinerated eleven human beings, put countless people out of work, destroyed fisheries, tourism, small business, wildlife and fragile ecosystems, and the mental and physical health of an entire region of the country, and when you have manipulated facts, kept reports from the public, knowingly put people in harm’s way, been blatantly negligent, and hidden the results of your devastation by following poison with more poison, don’t talk about your hurt feelings.
Second, don’t take the worst environmental and financial disaster to hit the United States in the history of ever, and compare it to a soda can. I don’t care if it is like a soda can. Talk about it in your closed door meetings, but don’t tell people it’s like a soda can. It’s kind of like saying that retrieving tar balls is like an Easter egg hunt.
Third, did you really just sit there in your $800 suit, and your $150 shirt in front of your burnished BP flower logo in your cushy conference room and say there is nobody who is more devastated than you? And nobody wants to shut this off more than you? I submit to you people who might just be a little more devastated than you are. Just something to consider before you go spouting off like a soda can.
If corporations are people (as the conservatives on the Supreme Court just ruled) then BP and its executives need some jail time. And BP as an entity needs the death penalty. But instead, they’ll end up paying a bit to clean up 10% of the mess they make, call it a day, draw the punitive damages out in court, and use Supreme Court precedent from the Exxon Valdez to whittle their liability down to next to nothing.
Forgive us BP if we don’t apologize for hurting your feelings.
The video clip above features Dr. Ricki Ott from Alaska who is in the Gulf region now, sharing her expertise from the Exxon Valdez oil spill with those who need to understand what’s coming. She is also heavily involved with the movement to add an amendment to the Constitution stating that corporations are not people… only people are people. You can visit here site and sign the petition HERE.
And conservatives – do you still think the government should stay out of business’ way? And has the free market cleaned up that oil yet? Just wondering.
This article is cross-posted at The Huffington Post. Buzz it up!
1st
Hear hear!
[Love the easter egg tarball ref]
A Petro-Ouvrical Easter, brought to you by Assoc of Offshore Drillers.
100,000,000 gallons! OMG! Make that 100,000,000 gallons and counting……
Crowley did a good job but I also wish Rachel could have interviewed this guy. She would have taken it to the nth degree. I watched her show tonight and she had Secretary Chu on. It was compelling. She would have taken it so much further and into so much more depth.
BP was all over the tv tonight saying how broken up they were with all the devastation and that they were going to clean up every drop. We all know that isn’t going to happen.
Jail time for BP. They are, according to our Supreme Court, granted the same status as people now, so let’s get that going. BP was negligent in that they had no plan for a failure of this sort, they caused the death of 11 souls, it is possible there is some cover up because data is missing prior to the explosion, and who knows how long that “leak” was going on before we were told.
I couldn’t read past Dudley saying “It… it…uh… there’s no question that this much oil in the ocean is going to take a long time to clean it up. It’s different than the Valdez spill because it’s much warmer waters, the biological processes will work faster, but you can clean up the beaches… ”
good grief….and jeebus wept…
I hit “submit” to fast…
I wanted to add…tell that to the pelicans and the pelican eggs and the baby sea turtles…and the fishing crews…and anyone human, animal, fish or mineral in the Gulf.
I’m starting to think it would be a good idea to dump some of that oil-caked sand in the BP bigwigs’ front yards. How about a dump truck full of sand pulling up in front of their offices worldwide? Those people in Grand Isle and elsewhere along the coast don’t deserve oil-soaked yards and canal-fronts, but Tony Heyward certainly does.
I’m so angry I could spit nails. I get sick of the thought of all of those pelicans dying, Baby birds coated in oil before they ever take their first flight. Gorgeous cranes and egrets turned black from that crud.
We are still getting the smell in New Orleans, so I KNOW that the people along the coast, both residents and workers brought in to clean are risking their health just by breathing.
This is insane and I’m happy to finally have reporters trying to stir up national emotions over this. IT NEEDS TO HAPPEN!
Crikey.
All the players in this BP environmental disaster drama are lining up like “The Perfect Storm.”
The oil, the toxic chemicals they’ve used, the seemingly milk-toast response by BP, the frustrated Louisiana residents, the unknown extent and duration, all of the poor casualties that will be coated in this deadly combination & suffer a horrible death and this Government’s seemingly slow response & political bickering. All they need now is a hurricane.
My head has been exploding since day 1 and I can’t even begin to imagine how the people directly involved feel. Why have we/BP refused help from other countries? Too many questions.
None of these developments should be very surprising, after all, it has all happened before albeit in somewhat different contexts.
I am troubled, however, by a couple of things, that are not at issue with this post, but appearing. One is that the government is somehow ultimately responsible for not stopping this thing from getting worse than it is. Well, what exactly are they equipped to do? To the best of my knowledge the government has no capability to conduct operations in deep water to control oil spills.
Next comes the clamour to expropriate all BP assets and put them out of business, well that might be cathartic to some but it would only absolve them of any ability to actually cope with the consequences of their ineptitude.
Finally I have to wonder just a bit if the willingness and adroit skill with which the corporation lies about the current circumstances, is not just upon them per se. After all, lies are readily accepted
by a broad spectrum of the population. If truth is not the standard, then lies of any degree are feasible, they just have to be field tested.
On another blog in a similar thread the question was asked, what can we do? The only answer that makes sense to me is to demand that decisions be taken based upon reason.
I was appalled by this morning’s New York Times article about how ineffective is Obama’s declaration of a moratorium on granting high risk permits until more information is avaialable. He promised that last month but permits are still being granted, it appears automatically, in even deeper water than the Horizon worked in. Maybe government can’t do anything useful about this, but either they don’t want to or are legally unable to control the next f-up.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/us/24moratorium.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th
“In the days since President Obama announced a moratorium on permits for drilling new offshore oil wells and a halt to a controversial type of environmental waiver that was given to the Deepwater Horizon rig, at least seven new permits for various types of drilling and five environmental waivers have been granted, according to records.
The records also indicate that since the April 20 explosion on the rig, federal regulators have granted at least 19 environmental waivers for gulf drilling projects and at least 17 drilling permits, most of which were for types of work like that on the Deepwater Horizon shortly before it exploded, pouring a ceaseless current of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.”
BP should be held accountable, and each and every executive that allowed safety rules and requirements to be ignored or bypassed should be held accountable. Jail. Every single one of them.
One of your best, AKM. I’m going to share it (with attribution, of course).
charge the BOD and the Corporate Officers , eligible for Jail time… Amazing what might happen if the individuals were personally accountable and not able to hide behind the corporation..
guess mr. tony went to “how to look devastated” school since the day he said the oil gusher would have moderate effects………now he is all “oh my gosh this is awful”.
please.
I was too saddened by an article I read the other day, so I don’t remember the title or day it was published, but it was about some Gulf fishermen who want to commit suicide.
perfectly stated! …not that I agree with this choice of lesson teaching, but doesn’t this just make you want to grab him by the scruff and forcefully bury his nose in it!!!
Why are Kevin Costner’s centrifuges still sitting on a barge in Venice, LA?
You said everything that should be said. I couldn’t make myself listen to that guy anymore. I’ve heard interviews with all kinds of people living in the Gulg region whose lives will be change, perhaps forever. And that’s not even mentioning all the wildlife and the marshland that may never really recover. Every time I see an oil soaked creature I cry.
And then I get angry. I’m not a vengeful person, but I try to take responsibility for my mistakes and I just wish that the people who caused it would do the same. All of his hurt feelings aren’t going to make it better. That only works when you are four years old. So grow up, BP. Figure out how to stop this devastation and then spend all your money and resources to clean it up. If it means you go out of business in the process, fine by me. And their feelings are hurt because we don’t trust them? What have they ever done to earn our trust!
Jail time, definitely – but it needs to be all of them, starting at the top.
I need an edit button – that should be Gulf, not Gulg.
sadly it is gulg now. or glug or something awful
Rachel interviewed Secretary Chu and told him that it worried her that he said he got his information from reading the paper re BP decisions and who said what…I’m worried too! they’re suppose to know MORE than we know!
AKM, you might want to repost Shannyn Moore’s fall commentary about the Valdez. She also wrote very powerfully about the rape of the coast.
BP needs to be seized by the US government. Seized. All its assets. Let them fight to get them back. They need to be on trial for criminally negligent homicide. I volunteer for the jury. With their venue problems, I have no trouble believing they might end up in New York, hoping we still think Osama is worse than they are.
No terrorist ever did the damage to any nation that BP has done to the Gulf coast. I want them arrested and detained under the Patriot Act. I want their names on No Fly lists and their private jets seized.
And dead, oilsoaked, reeking pelicans hung from their worthless necks to wear every day for the rest of their lives.
Forwarding to Bob Kincaid for demolition.
Beyond his words, I was struck by his body language — in particular, his eye movements. I’d be interested in seeing the results of what experts in the field of ‘reading people’/detecting lies might come up with after taking a gander at the clip. He –along with the rest of the BP gang– is quite a piece of work. Truly disgusting. beth.
[minor quibble AKM: "Third, did you really just sit there in your $800 suit, and your $150 tie in front of your burnished BP flower logo in your cushy conference room..." -- I believe you meant "$250 shirt", he's necktie-less. I'm presuming the look he adopted for the interview is to show how 'one of the devastated' he is; how he 'connects' with the peons who've lost their livelihoods due to the spill; how he just rushed in from working reeeeeally hard in the field/think-tank to sit before the camera. I'm sure he'd have loved to be jacketless, too...with his shirtsleeves rolled up to enhance the 'pity poor me' effect. b.]
i’d go further than that – it’s probably a $4,000 suit and an $800 shirt.
Early this month, BP’s Calgary office building was cordoned off while police investigated a package they thought was a bomb. Wasn’t, though.
The questions for this, er, person, bubble out of me like an oil gusher.
So, Mr. veryNiceSuit, has BP shutdown all their other deep water wells and ceased drilling on new ones until adequate (if that’s even possible) disaster plans are in place.
Are your feelings so hurt by the justifiable outrage of the population you recklessly polluted that you can’t even give up a penny of your precious corporate income to insure the future safety of those people (and the PLANET)?
What exactly is your plan for the oil-soaked marshes? How many decades, centuries to recover them?
AKM, very well written post. I think a liar, liar pants on fire icon would fit in well.
Here’s a good segment with Mike Papantonio on the trustworthiness of BP and Halliburton –
BP – The Manslaughter Felon
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/papantonio-bp-manslaughter-felon
I don’t understand why the US didn’t look at some of the preventive & clean-up measures other countries adopted after rig accidents. Such as demanding the less toxic disbursements. The US says it tries to stay ahead of the curve, but we sure are taking it in the shorts on this one.
Have to admit our President is “dammed if he does & dammed if he doesn’t”. If the Federal government stepped in right away – not only would the President own this disaster, but the GOP would accuse him of “taking over the oil industry”. Yet the other side is saying “DO SOMETHING” (Do what????) Sending engineers & think-tankers to come up with a solution, one that BP & Transocean should have had on hand when they got a permit.
Right now, I am just so sad at the destruction; environmental, wildlife, fishermen, businesses, and residents. So sorry we offended BP but no doubt they have protected their company much like Transocean did on May 13th.
snip] As set forth under Federal Law, the complaint also asks that the companies be judged not liable on claims for certain, defined losses or damages relating to the casualty or, if they are judged to be liable, that the liability for such claims be limited to the value of their interest in the Deepwater Horizon rig and its freight including the accounts receivable and accrued accounts receivable as of April 28, 2010. The petitioners assert in the filing that the entire value of their interest does not exceed $26,764,083. [end snip
more @ http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=113031&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=1426526&highlight=
oh well said dear Emjay. i am still unable to be civil in my discourse on this issue. i tried but i think the filter got me so i am depending on my mudpeeps to speak for me. i am enraged and unable to express what is in my heart. i just know i want revenge.
Unfortunately, these lax regulations seem to be one more gift from the catastophic legacy of the Bush administration. From what I’ve read since this mess started, many of the stricter regulations and tough enforcement in place prior to his term were loosened during his administration…what a shock! Had to keep all his buddies rolling in the dough and contributing generously to his campaign coffers.
The regulations in some of the other countries who have similar offshore drilling rigs are much stricter than ours and at least two other countries require a piece of equipment that would have contained the problem almost immediately. The equipment costs about a half-million dollars so the oil companies fight the requirements to have it onsite. They’re willing to take the chance of destroying untold miles of coastline, several generations of wildlife and thousands of families livelihoods to save what, to them, is a pittance.
I don’t know how they face themselves in the mirror each morning, knowing how much they have destroyed.
We got any climate scientists in the house? I read a blog post elsewhere which expressed a belief that oil-laden water from gulf pulled up by tropical storms in the gulf will drop oil-laden rain in this season’s hurricanes.
Certainly sounds plausible to me but I’d love to hear from an expert about this.
BP — B@st@rd Pr1cks.
There, I said it; I feel much better now. beth.
And the booger of it is, that livestream video we get to see on the intertubes? Apparently that is only ONE of THREE breaks in the pipe that’re ALL gushing oil/gas into the waters from ‘the spill’…you know, gushing like a soda can would. Arrrgh, B@st@rd Pr1cks! beth.
Have a question for any Austrailians — what are the shores looking like since the spill last year? I haven’t seen anything in the last 5 months or so.
Another article that may be of interest ….
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64N57U20100524
Why, are we calling this disaster “a spill”? The Exxon Valdez was “a spill” — it was a finite amount that spilled out into the water. This is *not* a finite amount — the oil [and gas mixture] will keep pouring out under tremendous pressure until the field goes dry or it is capped/stopped, Whichever comes first. It is NOT “a spill.”
To call it “a spill” makes it sound, yes, soda can-ish; makes it sound as if it’s no big deal. Calling what is gushing out of the breaks in the BP pipes “a spill” is like calling the force (and magnitude) of Victoria Falls a mere tumble of waters. Surely there is a more accurate term in the English language to convey what is *really* happening as a result of/with this man-made disaster than “a spill”?
As long as ‘we’ keep calling it “a spill”, the average Joe/Jane will remain in ignorance about what its *true* –and *lasting*– impact is…and will be for decades and decades to come. There ought not be a single person in this nation who is complacent about this incredible disaster…if it’s merely “a spill,” they will be.
I’ll say it again: B@st@rd pr1cks! beth.
i call it a spew.
“Oil Volcano”
Exactly MF! Those are excellent pieces of advice. So true, and so friggin’ obvious.
God, are these people the black holes of dumbass or what? G-damnit!
I seethe. Everyday I seethe.
http://www.spillthetruth.org/
check out the video, read timeline and articles, donate if you can, send message to Prez Obama. thx
AKM….. Letterman had a Guest on tonight to talk about all of the various Updates with the oil spill. He was some sort of a Dr. and knowledgable in the industry for years. ( Don’t remember the name )
Letterman is truly concerned about what is going on in the Gulf. He wants the facts reported.
Gryphen was talking the other day about having Rick Steiner on the Presidents new Commission he is forming and told his readers to email the WH. I had put a comment on his blog that Riki Ott who was with you and Shannyn the other day should try to call Letterman and get booked there… or Mr. Steiner.
Riki or Rick S. has first hand knowledge of the effect of this oil spill and Dave would love to have either of them on. Just like he did on tonights show.
ALSO… THIS is a STORY!!
I assume you are still in contact with Joe McGinness who is writing the book about S.Palin. You may already know this because he probably called you but he rented the house next door to the Palins.
And…As per the most recent Facebook post of Sarah she has announced THIS to her FANS about that fact, Joe renting the house next door to her, and in a childish rant called him something just short of a peeping Tom.. or Worse. Letterman revisited..? She is NUTZ!! She’s a VICTIM again.
I think Joe should invite all of the Alaskan bloggers over for a house-warming Party and you can all hang out and talk. Sarah can look out her window and see what fun you are having. She’s going to LOVE having Joe next door for the next 6 months… NOT!
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=392687973434
( Her Facebook rant is just Creepy. You KNOW she PERSONALLY wrote this one.. not RAM )
,,, put on her shorts and tanktop ?? a little too much info there… hhmmm weather report says Wasilla is 46 to 37 degrees??? uuuhhhh, anyone local can confirm if it’s shorts weather there?? or is this another play on the dirty old repub men….
That was Dr. Overton from LSU.
Geaux Tigers!
AKM my antivirus will not let me access the HP page. this is a great article and i wanted to check the comments, add to the comments, post it on facebook, blog it and just generally do whatever i can to spread the word. perhaps you could investigate the reason. Avira says malware.
here’s the actual message: In order not to compromise your security, this page will not be accessed
A virus or unwanted program was found in the HTTP data of the requested page.
Requested URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/akmuckraker/awww-we-hurt-bps-feelings_b_588263.html
Information: Contains HEUR/HTML.Malware suspicious code
i want to see everyone connected to this disaster spending the rest of their fecking lives on Alcatraz living on government cheese and stale bread. gotdamn them and all their ancestors and all their descendants for ever and ever. bloody minded sons of Satan.
i want to see everyone connected to this disaster spending the rest of their fecking lives on Alcatraz living on government cheese and stale bread. curses on them and all their ancestors and all their descendants for ever and ever. bloody minded sons of Satan.
I have been having trouble with error messages since this was posted, too. Something seems wrong with it.
I hope you all will follow AKM’s link to MoveToAmend.org and sign up and spread the word. Ask your candidates for office where they stand on corporate personhood. I try not to be a single-issue voter, because life is more complicated than that, but corporate personhood will devastate our country and democracy and we must act to constitutionally abolish it.
On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions. The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule.
The above statement comes from Move to Amend and is way off. The ruling does not say corporations are persons, the ruling considers a corporation as an association of citizens
Go to supremecourt. gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf
Read the Syllabus
So what is a PAC – an association of citizens
So what is a church – an association of citizens
So what is a political party – an association of citizens
So what is a corporation – an association of share holders, who unfortunately for us are citizens
Free speech for all or none.
Dont get me wrong, I have been going over 08-205 for weeks, I read and researched every ruling listed and I cannot counter even though I believe this is not right.
The dissents are great reading also.
William James said that the majority of people who think they are thinking are in actuality only realigning their prejudices.
I have had to realign mine – I defined a corporation by its legal definition – a legal entity that had some limited rights under state and federal laws that were similiar to that of a person – I did not define a corporation as an association of citizens.
Troy Bakel
For similarities between the Gulf tragedy and the earlier one in Valdez, see Greg Palast’s words here:
http://www.gregpalast.com/slick-operator-the-bp-ive-known-too-well/
It’s even worse than we thought.
http://monkeyfister.blogspot.com/
The Gulf is likely not to recover for a very long time, if ever.
Very, very sad.
What about the Bush adminstration’s part in all of this? While George was out playing cowboy in Texas, Cheney was in bed with the oil companies typing out legislation at record speed to assist them in exploration and drilling. Where did the profits from the $4 – $5 gallons of gasoline end up? Will anyone ask these questions and more importantly, will anyone answer?