IT IS DIFFICULT to conceive of a more resounding insult to our intelligence than BP’s full-page advertisements in the New York Times and USA Today about its response to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The BP ad begins, “Since the tragic accident on the Transocean Deepwater Horizon rig first occurred, we have been committed to doing everything possible to stop the flow of oil at the seabed, collect the oil on the surface and keep it away from the shore . . . on the seabed, we are using multiple technologies to reduce the flow of oil and ultimately stop it.’’
This is after multiple failures to use intelligence. On the day the ad ran, USA Today reported on how little research has been devoted to dealing with a spill that begins 5,000 feet underwater. The newspaper quoted a BP spokesman as saying that the company “doesn’t specifically’’ research oil spill response technologies. Instead, BP relies on oil spill response companies, such as Marine Spill Response, based in Virginia. But the spokeswoman for that company told USA Today that it has no budget for research. The newspaper wrote, “the basic equipment and tactics being used: boom, dispersants, burns and use of skimmer boats to pick up the oil haven’t changed much in the two decades since the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.’’
The BP ad also said the company is “determined to do everything we can to minimize any impact,’’ but chief executive Tony Hayward initially downplayed the impact by calling the spill “tiny in relation’’ to the ocean. BP now boasts that over 4 million gallons of oil/water mixture have been collected in its surface cleanup efforts and that “more than 1.2 million feet of boom have been placed to protect the shore.’’ All of a sudden, BP can count!
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/05/25/bp_cleans_up_on_political_connections/
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