What’s so insane, when I look over that sickening slick moving toward the Delta, is that containing spilled oil is really quite simple and easy. And from my investigation, BP has figured out a very low-cost way to prepare for this task: BP lies. BP prevaricates, BP fabricates and BP obfuscates.
That’s because responding to a spill may be easy and simple, but not at all cheap. And BP is cheap. Deadly cheap.
I have been following investigative journalist Greg Palast for some time now. He always seems to impress me with his discoveries. After the vulture funds Greg now tells us a little more about the BP oilspill truth.
Did you know that BP was also involved in the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989? Read the well written and revealing article on truthout.org to find out more. You’ll be amazed and I am sure that the next time you pass a BP petrol station, you’ll think twice before making use of their services.
Transocean Ltd., the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon rig (BP had a relationship to buy their oil), failed to install an acoustically triggered shutoff valve (Cost: $500,000) that could have stopped the flow of the oil. U.S. regulators declined to make the installation of these backup safety valves mandatory, and BP was one of the few that did not voluntarily install it on their rigs.
It just goes to show how guilty US regulators are to this disaster. A simple switch could have stopped this catastrohpe from ever happening, but revenue and probable budget cuts in preventive maintenance proved too difficult for stockholders to accept. I am convinced that BP is not worried though, all costs will be pushed to us the consumer.
