BP buys Gulf Coast millions in gear

[nalnn]

Source: Sun Herald Online

In the year since the Gulf oil spill, officials along the coast have gone on a spending spree with BP money, dropping tens of millions of dollars on gadgets, vehicles and gear - much of which had little to do with the cleanup, an Associated Press investigation shows.

The oil giant opened its checkbook while the crisis was still unfolding last spring and poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Gulf Coast communities with few strings attached.

In sleepy Ocean Springs, Miss., reserve police officers got Tasers. The sewer department in nearby Gulfport bought a $300,000 vacuum truck that never sucked up a drop of oil. Biloxi, Miss., bought a dozen SUVS. A parish president in Louisiana got herself a top-of-the-line iPad, her spokesman a $3,100 laptop. And a county in Florida spent $560,000 on rock concerts to promote its oil-free beaches.



Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/04/11/3016259/ap-impact-bp-buys-gulf-coast-millions.html

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Tasers for cops and SUVs for county commissioners...Great! :sarcasm:

[Angry Dragon]

1. The Gulf is all cleaned up, so no problems....................

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. And the BP pay czar, Feinberg, got a huge monthly pay raise while denying citizens their claim money

Heckuva job, Kenny.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Also note this:

from the article:

"Now, looking back in retrospect, it was a way to win over politicians, a way to win over the media."


And,straight out of disaster capitalism:
"it was a boon for private contractors and consultants. Governments have spent more than $19 million of BP's money to hire contractors, according to the AP's review."

Altho I do like that BP's money has been used to write lawsuits against BP.
It remains to be seen if any actually are successful in court.
Or, if it goes into politician's pockets:
"Five of the seven law firms hired and their attorneys have poured more than $80,000 total into Attorney General Buddy Caldwell's campaign coffers in recent years."

[MellowDem]

4. BP's money was wasted through and through...

between paying off tons of faulty claims with no proof and giving tons of money to local governments that was spent corruptly and wasted, that money wasn't used properly (and in many cases wasn't even needed to be paid out). BP paid almost anyone who made a claim because it was good for public perception, not because it was practical. So people cheated the system massively. In the end, the money should have gone straight to the federal government and been spent efficiently rather than just being thrown down the toilet, as it was here.

Also shows why something such as oil should be nationalized. When a disaster like this happens, a nationalized oil company would have given residents down there crap and couldn't have been sued to the same extent, but it would have resulted in more accountability and direct reform. The profit motive wouldn't have driven inefficient spending of that money.

Hell, they could have spent that money on infrastructure problems, or stopping the destruction of swampland, which is a much worse problem than the oil spill ever will be.

[nalnn]

5. Reform

While reform would be a boon to be sure, I must take argument with a little bit of you assessment of the payouts.

I personally know fishermen and other business owners down here that have legitimate claims who have yet to see on red penny.

As for Feinberg, I thought well of him at first. Now it seems that he is corrupt. I don't know if this happened before or during his tenure down here; working as he is for both sides.

[MellowDem]

8. That's the problem...

the people who don't deserve the money get it, and those actually effected do not.

[RedCloud]

6. But did they buy anything from liberals?

[Auntie Bush]

7. No wonder they want more oil drilling in the Gulf.

I'll bet the no strings attached policy was done on purpose...kind of like blackmail.

[DeSwiss]

9. The rich manipulate the ignorant masses.

- News at 11:00......

K&R