We all know that criminals like to cover their tracks. And BP is no different. On Saturday, the Anchorage Daily News – a paper that has battled BP in Alaska for a number of years a recently retired federal attorney who spent years dogging BP Exploration (Alaska). Jeanne Pascal, who worked 18 years as a … Read More
BP
Clean tar sands and safe deepwater drilling “more PR than reality.”
The industry’s PR response from Deepwater is shaping up nicely. This is the industry message: We will give you improved safety and you give us resumed drilling. The Gulf of Mexico represents energy security and jobs for the boys to boot. The tar sands of Canada also represent energy security, so if you let us … Read More
Industry Steps Up Pro-Offshore Drilling Campaign
To pardon the pun, but the tide is turning. Soon everything could be back to normal. There is an aggressive lobbying campaign by the oil industry to overturn Obama’s offshore drilling moratorium, despite the fact that opposition of offshore drilling continues to rise. Part of the industry campaign is to argue that support for offshore … Read More
“A Global Laughing Stock”
The Washington Post leads this morning on how the critical players in the Gulf disaster are all hiring public relations consultants like they are going out of fashion to try and repair their battered and bruised images. BP, according to the paper, “has assembled a formidable team of Democrats for its Washington lobbying and public-relations … Read More
From Humpty Dumpty, to Mr Bean to Mr Has-Been..
Did we get any real answers from Tony Hayward yesterday when he appeared before an influential Congressional cmmittee? No Did we get the truth from Hayward, currently depicted as the most hated man in America? No All we got from Tony Hayward was stone-walling, evasion and a deadpan panto of going through the motions.
Congress continues to support oil industry
Twice in the last several days we’ve been reminded of the uphill struggle we face in the US to separate oil and state. First, on Tuesday, the US Senate actually defeated a proposal that would have eliminated some oil industry subsidies. Then, earlier today, Representative Joe Barton actually apologized to BP’s Tony Hayward for establishing … Read More
It’s Time for the Truth, Tony
Yesterday was yet another gaffe from BP, but thankfully it was not yet another one from the company’s CEO Tony Hayward. This time it was the company’s chairman who was speaking to the media for the first time. As he left the White House, BP’s chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said: “We care about the small people. … Read More
Big Oil Blames BP, Just Don’t Mention the Walruses….
Is this what the beginning of the end of the oil age looks like? Millions of gallons of oil continue to pour out across the Gulf, devastating wildlife and countless livelihoods, from tourism to fishermen. Thousands of people are employed scooping, skimming, burning and mopping up oil in a largely fruitless gesture.
“Time after time, BP made decisions that increased the risk of a blowout to save the company time or expense”
It is a damning document that may well decide Tony Hayward’s fate. It will certainly give him sleepless nights before his Congressional appearance on Thursday. Remember what Hayward said a few weeks ago. “This was not our accident … This was not our drilling rig. This was not our equipment. It was not our people, … Read More
A Vital Week for BP – Will it Sink or Swim?
So the viral joke on the internet is that whether it be oil spills or footballs – England can’t contain either. After England goalie Robert Green’s disastrous mistake against the US on Saturday night at the World Cup – can England get anything right? For BP there have been many weeks that have ebbed and … Read More