@john65pennington makes a valid point concerning the law that governs the cleanup of this mess. However as was also stated in the thread there is a Democratic initiative to raise the liability cap from 75 million for BP which Republicans are consistently blocking.
Don’t forget that this is not the first time that this has occurred with BP. The Exxon Valdez fiasco involved a pipeline and maintenance facilities owned by a consortium including Exxon, Alyeska and the majority owner (49%) BP. They also were the ones in charge of that cleanup and botched it due to not having the equipment and materials on hand to take care of the potential consequences of their business endeavors. (BP btw also employed Todd Palin for 18 years).
The worst part about this is how it came about so easily. I think we should place 90% of the blame and cost on BP and the rest (as well as bring criminal charges) against the people that facilitated this. Namely Dick Cheney who’s relationship with Haliburton (the company that was in charge of the cement seal on this rig) continued during his term as VP, received 64 million dollars as a “contribution” from his Oil friends, not to mention both he and Bush are former Oil executives… oh and let’s not forget, they repealed the legal safeguards requiring specific safety measures and oversight for the oil industry.
This is not the current administration’s fault but it is it’s problem. I agree that if BP continues to screw the pooch on this they should at least bring in the Army Corps of engineers to try and help. They should also hold BP financially accountable for ALL of the fallout from this spill..
The thing that makes Republicans look like idiots on this issue (If I may go back to the original question) is that they are “condeming” big oil but going out of their way to defend them! They keep talking about “small government” and “state and local governments taking charge” and if we remember the financial reform debate supported the free market in which corporations were unregulated and allowed to fail without government meddling.
Meanwhile, alleged free market state’s rights small government southern Republican politicians continue to demand federal help and socialized federal money—redistributed wealth from Pennsylvania and Illinois and New York and Massachusetts with all of its bleeding heart tree-hugging environmental wacko liberals.
This kind of blatant hypocrisy really pisses me off.
/end rant