Author Topic: SEIZE BP NOW! (Read 10282 times)

Bucktail · « **on:** June 05, 2010, 05:50:34 PM »

Seize BP: Campaign Statement and Petition

The government of the United States must seize BP and freeze its assets, and place those funds in trust to begin providing immediate relief to the working people throughout the Gulf states whose jobs, communities, homes and businesses are being harmed or destroyed by the criminally negligent actions of the CEO, Board of Directors and senior management of BP.

Take action now! Sign the Seize BP petition to demand the seizure of BP!

200,000 gallons of oil a day, or more, are gushing into the Gulf of Mexico with the flow of oil growing. The poisonous devastation to human beings, wildlife, natural habitat and fragile ecosystems will go on for decades. It constitutes an act of environmental violence, the consequences of which will be catastrophic.

BP's Unmitigated Greed

This was a manufactured disaster. It was neither an “Act of God” nor Nature that caused this devastation, but rather the unmitigated greed of Big Oil’s most powerful executives in their reckless search for ever-greater profits.

Under BP’s CEO Tony Hayward’s aggressive leadership, BP made a record $5.6 billion in pure profits just in the first three months of 2010. BP made $163 billion in profits from 2001-09. It has a long history of safety violations and slap-on-the-wrist fines.

BP's Materially False and Misleading Statements

BP filed a 52-page exploration plan and environmental impact analysis with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service for the Deepwater Horizon well, dated February 2009, which repeatedly assured the government that it was "unlikely that an accidental surface or subsurface oil spill would occur from the proposed activities." In the filing, BP stated over and over that it was unlikely for an accident to occur that would lead to a giant crude oil spill causing serious damage to beaches, mammals and fisheries and that as such it did not require a response plan for such an event.

BP’s executives are thus either guilty of making materially false statements to the government to obtain the license, of consciously misleading a government that was all too ready to be misled, and/or they are guilty of criminal negligence. At a bare minimum, their representations constitute gross negligence. Whichever the case, BP must be held accountable for its criminal actions that have harmed so many.

Protecting BP's Super-Profits

BP executives are banking that they can ride out the storm of bad publicity and still come out far ahead in terms of the billions in profit that BP will pocket. In 1990, in response to the Exxon Valdez disaster, Congress passed and President Bush signed into law the Oil Pollution Act, which immunizes oil companies for the damages they cause beyond immediate cleanup costs.

Under the Oil Pollution Act, oil companies are responsible for oil removal and cleanup costs for massive spills, and their liability for all other forms of damages is capped at $75 million—a pittance for a company that made $5.6 billion in profits in just the last three months, and is expected to make $23 billion in pure profit this year. Some in Congress suggest the cap should be set at $10 billion, still less than the potential cost of this devastation—but why should the oil companies have any immunity from responsibility for the damage they cause?

The Oil Pollution Act is an outrage, and it will be used by BP to keep on doing business as usual.

People are up in arms because thousands of workers who have lost their jobs and livelihoods as a result of BP’s actions have to wait in line to compete for lower wage and hazardous clean-up jobs from BP. BP’s multi-millionaire executives are not asked to sacrifice one penny while working people have to plead for clean-up jobs.

Take Action Now

It is imperative that the government seize BP’s assets now for their criminal negligence and begin providing immediate relief for the immense suffering and harm they have caused.

http://www.seizebp.org/

Bucktail · « **Reply #1 on:** June 05, 2010, 09:09:17 PM »

10 Critical Facts about BP and the Gulf of Mexico Crisis

1. On May 10, BP said it had already spent $350 million as a result of the Deepwater Horizon accident.

2. By contrast, in the first three months of this year, BP made $93 million per day in pure profits. This does not include the huge salaries and perks of its executives that are considered “costs,” not profits. Thus, BP has spent what might seem to many people to be a big number on the accident ($350 million) but it is only equivalent to 4 days of pure profits for BP.

3. BP has a market value (BP’s assets) of $152.6 billion.

4. So far, BP has only paid 295 claims out of the 4,700 claims made against the company for damages and losses incurred from the Deepwater accident.

5. JP Morgan Chase Bank owns almost 30 percent of BP’s common stock.

6. BP is the largest producer of offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

7. Citigroup analysts have formally advised investors not to worry too much about “the likely costs to the company [BP].” The Citigroup analysis notes that punitive damages against Exxon for the Exxon-Valedz oil spill in 1989 were originally set by the courts at $5 billion but reduced by 90 percent when the case reached the Supreme Court in 2008. The total cost to Exxon was $500 million in compensation damages and $500 million in punitive damages. The total cost imposed on Exxon after 20 years of litigation amounted to only $1 billion, or the equivalent of just 12 days worth of BP’s pure profits ($93 million per day) in the first three months of this year. Because of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, BP and any other oil company that is responsible for an offshore oil accident is not legally required to pay more than $75 million in damages above the oil recovery costs. Thus, the government’s response to the Exxon Valdez accident was to actually protect the Oil Giants by limiting their liability and risk exposure in the event of a catastrophic accident. Again, the $75 million limit is less than 1 day of BP’s pure profits in 2010.

8. BP is using carefully crafted language to imply that it may cover all the “legitimate” costs and “legitimate” damages (and they would presumably be the entity to determine which claim is legitimate) and that this amount will surpass the damage cap of $75 million set by the Oil Pollution Act. States BP’s executive vice president David Nagel, “A $75 million liability is not where our head is at this moment.” The most important three words of Nagel’s quote is “at this moment.” The law, as written, entitles BP’s executives to be the deciders of whether to pay or not to pay any damages above the $75 million cap. Right now the company is under the glare of global publicity and it can say whatever it wants to suggest that it is taking full responsibility.

9. BP has a long history of safety violations and reckless behavior. They chose not to equip Deepwater Horizon with an acoustic trigger, a last-resort option that could have been activated from a remote location triggering the well to shut down even if it was damaged badly. This piece of equipment is required in several countries, but not in the United States. Though BP does employ them on their rigs offshore in England, they choose not to in the Gulf of Mexico. This piece of equipment costs $500,000 – an amount they make in pure profits in less than 8 minutes (based on 2010 earnings). BP also chose not to install a deep-water valve, which could have served as another last-resort option for cutoff. BP has been fined many times by the Occupations Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and is the recipient of their largest fine ever. OSHA Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor Jordan Barab has this to say about BP: “BP has systemic safety and health problems.”

10. Unless there is an asset seizure and the placement of those funds in a trust to provide for full compensation and relief for the harmed people and the damaged environment, BP and its executives will avoid real responsibility to remedy the suffering and damage caused by their reckless and greedy search for super-profits. In fact, if BP and Big Oil is left untouched by government intervention the whole Deepwater catastrophe could turn out to be a source of more profits for Big Oil. A Citigroup analyst report states: “Reaction to the Gulf of Mexico oil leak is a buying opportunity.”

News:

Author Topic: SEIZE BP NOW! (Read 10282 times)