| May 07 |
Facing Gulf oil spill damage lawsuits, BP blames victims with complaints of ‘illegitimacy’
“This is America — come on,” the well-tailored head of London-based BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, told the Times of London. “We’re going to have lots of illegitimate claims. We all know that.” |
BP CEO Tony Hayward is adding galling insult to devastating injury. Rightly facing billions of dollars in costs to clean up BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill and to compensate Americans for huge business losses to come, Hayward has pre-emptively attacked future American 
| May 06 |
Feds seek to raise BP’s cap on oil spill economic damages
As it stands now, British Petroleum, or BP, which was operating the doomed oil platform, has a $75 million cap on payments for non-cleanup and containment costs. In other words, if Louisiana’s $3 billion fishing industry is ruined, or if the Gulf Coast’s $100 billion tourism industry is staggered, they can stand in line to try getting a fraction of that cost from the company which seems to have caused it through negligence. Fortunately, the Obama administration is trying to correct this problem, which was created by the 1990 Oil Pollution Act. Indeed, the administration is working with Congress to lift the $75 million cap to pay for oil spill damages, in order to help those who suffer financially in Gulf Coast states Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. |
The oil business rakes in many billions of dollars in profits while you pay high prices at the gas pump and try to feed your family. But imagine how much more galling it will be to fishing, tourism and other business along the Gulf of Mexico coast as the economic fallout of last month’s