I'm still the oil spill cynic...

[Javaman]

Earlier this week, I posted this...

Color me the Cynic on the spill...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8264000

Where I said...

"I can bet you, right now, BP's lawyers are consulting with Exxon's.

Be prepared now for the excess spin and rebranding of BP, followed by a paltry amount of "good will" in the example of "helping out the fishermen" in some vein.

Then as the story is shuffled out of the headlines, the "good will" will vanish, the PR machine will go into overdrive using thinly based "evidence" that BP is "fixing" things in the gulf.

All the while, the lawyers will be screaming back and forth over what this or that costs."

Then today, on Alternet I read this...

The Gross Negligence of BP -- Oil Giant's Trying to Slick Its Way Out of Controversy
http://www.alternet.org/world/146771/the_gross_negligence_of_bp_--_oil_giant%27s_trying_to_slick_its_way_out_of_controversy

May 6, 2010 |
I've seen this movie before. In 1989, I was a fraud investigator hired to dig into the cause of the Exxon Valdez disaster. Despite Exxon's name on that boat, I found the party most to blame for the destruction was ... British Petroleum. That's important to know, because the way BP caused devastation in Alaska is exactly the way BP is now sliming the entire Gulf Coast.

Tankers run aground, wells blow out, pipes burst. It shouldn't happen but it does. And when it does, thename of the game is containment. Both in Alaska, when the Exxon Valdez grounded, and in the Gulf over a week ago, when the Deepwater Horizon platform blew, it was British Petroleum that was charged with carrying out the Oil Spill Response Plans ("OSRP") which the company itself drafted and filed with the government.

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.

(Read the rest of the article. It's excellent and give insight what we are going to get from BP. here we go again folks)

[spanone]

1. it's all public relations now

[KharmaTrain]

2. That's What They Pay The Big Lawyers, Lobbyists And PR People For...

Just following BP's statements you can see how they're trying hard to detach themselves from as much liability in this mess as they can. Their lobbyists will work overtime to prevent any cloture vote on raising the liability cap and their lawyers are already doing cash and carry deals with desperate shrimpers and others who are already being impacted. Next will be the insurance companies that are sure to squeeze the little guys and hedge BP by attempting to further define the "liability". In the end its the government that will pay the lion's share of the clean up and provide aid to those who've lost incomes and livlihoods by this disaster.

I'm sure we'll see a big court fight involving BP, Halliburton and the company that owned the platform...a liability hot potato that will be tossed from one court to the next...probably ending up in Scalito's lap. For those whose life's have been destroyed, a final settlement means little and many will be forced to take whatever scraps they can get from insurance and government aid. In the end, BP will make billions in profits and may ultimately be held for some kind of liability but the money will long be in the banks, the destruction will be long forgotten by the media and those more interested in fueling their SUVs than about what damage this has caused to our ecosystem and economy.

[northernlights]

3. I still think it will be a little harder for BP to pull this off this time around

Alaska is sufficiently remote with sufficiently low population for them to pull that shit, and with a contained spill that meant a limited amount of oil.

This time, they are in a very highly visible, very highly populated area potentially affecting the coastline of 4 or more states. With a geyser spewing unknowable amounts of oil for an indefinite period of time. There is no real end in sight as yet.

It's one thing to starve a few Eskimos (apologize -- their peabrain thinking, not mine). It's another thing to devastate the environment and economy of multiple southern- and mid-Atlantic states. Hell, maybe the slick will get as far north as VA, DC and MD. Who the hell knows?

Their little contraption may work -- or could just as easily create a bigger disaster. Nobody really knows. But from what I've read about it, every day that thing is operational -- assume it is ever operational -- is another day for another potential explosion. In order to keep the oil from clogging the pipe, they will be continuously pumping warm water and METHANE through the same pipeline as the oil. Their engineers are "pretty sure" they can keep them all separate. Pretty sure. Think about it. Methane. Oil. Heat. Motion.

It seems equally, if not more, as likely to me that they'll inadvertently cause a new explosion as pump this oil out. It seems very likely they could end up making this situation far worse than it already is. And we all know it is already really, really bad.

[Javaman]

4. If the cap works, be prepared for the PR machine to go into overdrive...

and hail BP as the green hero.

the actual cause of the blowout will be left in the dust along with the animals, the people, their livelihoods and the environment.

[northernlights]

5. agreed. but the key word here is "IF"

Personally I don't hold a lot of hope for it working. Way too many things that can go wrong, and my personal experience is that all too often complex stuff invented on the fly never works "as planned."

[AnArmyVeteran]

6. BP would gladly pay billion on PR than to use money to clean up their mess...

Just like the drug manufacturers spend more on advertising than they do on development of new drugs. We live in a bizzaro world and it's up to us to take it back from corporate criminals...