BP, the disgraced British energy company which is now allowed to start drilling again in the Gulf of Mexico whose waters it ravaged last year, will pay $50 million to the state of Texas as a settlement for state claims that it violated pollution standards 72 times after its Texas City refinery explosion in 2005. (more…)

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The federal government today approved further offshore drilling by British energy giant BP — just 18 months after its Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 offshore workers and spawned the worst oil spill in American history.
The new drilling will not be in BP’s Macondo prospect near Louisiana’s coast — site of Deepwater Horizon — but in its Kaskida prospect almost 200 miles from the Louisiana coast. BP will be allowed to drill up to seven new deepwater wells and shift the site of two other wells. (more…)

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BP executives not only lead a company whose wanton disregard of caution led to April 20′s Gulf of Mexico oil spill — the worst environmental disaster in America’s history — but also betray an acute case of foot-in-mouth disease.

In May, while millions of gallons of oil gushed into the Gulf, BP CEO Tony Hayward told a British newspaper that he expected Americans’ claims for oil spill damages via lawsuits to be “illegitimate.”

“This is America –  come on,” Hayward said. “We’re going to have lots of illegitimate claims. We all know that.”

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As the cost of BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill grows, many of its victims, from failing businesses to fishermen and their families, may wonder if they can be compensated for their losses. After all, the bill already is in the billions, with estimates ranging from $37 billion to $70 billion.

But BP, formerly British Petroleum, has the means to foot that bill. The world’s third-largest energy giant had net profits of more than $10 billion combined in the last quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010. In fact, BP has generated over $100 billion in profits, after expenses, in the last five years.

Just last year, BP had revenues of almost $250 billion, with $16.8 billion in profits. BP also owns huge oil reserves which could be converted into cash by selling them to other energy companies. How huge? The oil it owns that’s still in the ground reportedly is worth $13.5 trillion at today’s prices.

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President Obama’s fact-finding visits to Alabama, Mississippi and Florida Monday underscore at least one thing: the BP oil spill disaster off the coast of Louisiana isn’t impacting just that state, but also the entire Gulf of Mexico region, including Texas. And that region is being devastated with battered businesses.

Obama also plans to address the nation about the crisis Tuesday night. Meanwhile, the White House is pressuring BP to set up an escrow account for paying off oil spill damage claims.

Such claims are likely to come from those who might otherwise make a living from shrimping, fishing and related businesses, from hotels, motels, restaurants and other tourism enterprises to gas stations, food retailers, food preparers, packers, truckers and others. Sadly, oil spill damages are making their survival difficult, if not impossible.

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