There’s one aspect of the BP story that most of those angry residents of the Gulf states aren’t aware of. And the president hasn’t had a thing to say about it.
Even as the tar balls hit Gulf beaches, their tax dollars are subsidizing BP and so far, Obama has not shown the slightest indication that he plans to stop their flow into BP coffers, despite the recent call of Public Citizen, a watchdog group, to end the nation’s business dealings with company.
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While the president has been on the verbal warpath, the US military has – with little notice – continued to carry on a major business partnership with BP, despite the company’s poor environmental record.
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In 2009, according to the Defense Energy Support Center, the military awarded $22.5 billion in energy contracts. More than $16 billion of that went to purchasing bulk fuel. Some 10 top petroleum suppliers got the lion’s share, more than $11.5 billion, among them big names like Shell, Exxon Mobil and Valero. The largest contractor, however, was BP, which received more than $2.2 billion – almost 12% of all petroleum-contract dollars awarded by the Pentagon for the year.While one exceptionally powerful department of the federal government has been feeding money into BP (and other oil giants) with abandon, BP has consistently run foul of US government regulators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
According to the Center for Public Integrity, “BP account[ed] for 97 percent of all flagrant violations found in the [oil] refining industry by government safety inspectors over the past three years.”
Some of us can make the decision at the pump. Remember BP owns ARCO…
Is there still a strategic oil reserve? Didn’t the US Government sell that off under GWB’s tour? If the US military wants to go to war, it now needs Big Oil’s co-operation. Just adding.
ECA, yes we are paying for everything. That’s the way the economy works. Expenses of producing, transportation and marketing are added to the cost of all products for sale. Why would oil be any different?
The wind is free, but converting it into electricity, maintenance and distributing it to everyone isn’t free. Also, whenever an alternative energy source arises, Americans waddle up to it and devour it like it was deep fried chicken smothered in bacon and cheese. Low supply… lots of demand = high prices. You will NEVER have cheap energy. EVER. What we need is CLEAN energy.
KMFIX, as well as not buying gas from BP stations, don’t drive on any roads made with BP tar, don’t reshingle your house with asphalt derived from BP oil, don’t purchase any plastics made from BP oil, don’t buy any household products that contain petroleum products from BP, don’t eat any food that was delivered by truck using BP diesel, don’t drink any water that was pumped to the reservoir using diesel or gas engines or lubrication derived from BP oil, don’t paint anything that…
23,
but you are thinking of a restricted Limited distribution system for power.
As from a DAM to the rest of the area..
Im thinking of an inline system, where MOST homes have Basic facilities and its SHARED across the local area.
reasoning comes with the idea that a distributed system is not easy to control, and the CORP cant make money from it. So the Corp makes plans to inflate the COST of products that would go INTO creating a distributed system. get the gov to make regulations on SHARING POWER and CREATING alternative power.
Make State regulations that say, you DONT GET PAID for Excess power TO the system..you get CREDITS for power you MAY/WILL use in the future from THEM.
#12 Bobbo, I agree with THIS post. No further endorsements are implied or should be inferred.
Skeptic–If I’m understanding you correctly, there is no way to avoid BP Oil? Gosh, whats a responsible consumer to do?
OMTH–everything is relative. When one of many energy breakthru’s arise, like thin film photovoltaics to shingle your roof with, then when sized right, I can run all the electrical appliances I want to without a thought to any energy bill at all. Basically, a one time price for energy.
That would be a good thing. How would BP screw me on that one?
#26–Faxon==well, as you get off on being wrong most of the time, loudly wrong, belligerently wrong, insultingly wrong most of the time, but not knee jerkingly automatically gain saying wrong all the time, I expect welcome the oddity and expect nothing else.
Faxoff.
This is interesting on several levels:
Seismologists charged with manslaughter – for failing to accurately predict the L’Aquila earthquake. 300 died. “They shoulda told the community so they could flee.”
And so–who decides about corporate negligence when the deaths aren’t so immediate? Is this why there are no Italian Deep Ocean Drillers?
Hah, hah. Yes, causation is a political judgment. And pasta grows on trees.
http://techeye.net/science/seismologists-charged-with-manslaughter?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+techeye+%28Tech+Eye%29#ixzz0rRL3ulLm
#26, #12..
AND as a corp..
you want the HIGHEST GAIN/profit for your dollar.
but the Gov. watches over your dealings..
And your profit margins are looking abit Interesting to regulators..
So, how do you Make it “ALRIGHT” to keep raising prices?
Consider that you have Cut personnel and every corner you can, just to give better stock prices and to Raise your wages.
(which means the profits ARNT going back into the company to keep things NEW and IMPROVED).
In all the BS floating around, has there been ANY reasoning of WHAT HAPPENED?
i MIGHT AS WELL CLAIM That a Leprechaun Flew Airplanes into the WTB, as there is 1 listed on the passenger list.
How about the person that dies from pneumonia, as listed on his death certificate?? but doesnt list that he was suffering from Aids.
Its always fun to debate this. So what they were(PROBABLY) pushing the equipment and Over pressuring the system. but WHO asked them to. WHO told them NOT TO(no body, probably).
Who asked 11 people to risk their lives?
#30–ECA==what are you dithering on about? You do know that running 5 dithers together is still dithering and not any more insightful? You raise many questions, but I’ll just dispatch the first one. Now what was that? ====
“So, how do you Make it “ALRIGHT” to keep raising prices?” /// Thats silly. Roughly speaking, the market sets prices according to supply and demand. Wrinkles here and there, but thats the basic reality.
Whatever are you thinking about and trying to post?
#31,
BUT THEY CONTROL THE whole MARKET.
All of it.
regulations had to be installed…so that independents could survive.
The law said, that they could NOT undercut Local AREA PRICES.
AS the big corps would Undercut the Local Independents by 10% to get them out of business.
Once everyone Figures you cant win..they Quit trying. They control ALL of the market.
Do you see anyone complaining RECENTLY about $3 per gallon, as they did the last few times? Do you see the OIL corps bitching, because they arent making a PROFIT?
You conservatives are such whiners and carpers.
I would guess that Obama used these contracts as a way to get BP to pay for the disaster they created.
Had McCain and Palin been elected, they’d be apologizing TO BP and making US taxpayers pay for the whole cost of this mess.
bobbo re: ” When one of many energy breakthru’s arise, like thin film photovoltaics to shingle your roof with, … That would be a good thing. How would BP screw me on that one?”
That’s about as feasible as ethanol from corn. A windmill in every back yard? A ‘bar fridge’ nuclear generator in every basement? A flying pig? Mmm hm. BP can’t screw you on something that will probably never happen.
Just doing without electricity is more likely in the cards for everyone. there’s just too many people and not enough high tech and rare earth resources.
i used to be an optimist too.
#32–ECA==”no matter what happens” supply and demand is still “in play.” I think you are focused too much on a “free market” without cartels and corners on the market and what not. But still–even when a monopoly controls all, if the overprice or gouge for too long, the market finds an alternative. Its a tautology==you really can’t disagree.
#34–Skeptic==mental attitude has nothing to do with technological progress. The news in thin film voltaics is that they can be made with cheaper and cheaper materials thereby lowering their cost per watt over their lifetimes. As the cost of Big Energy goes up, and the cost of decentralized renewables comes down==at some point, renewables will be competitive all on their own even with the artificial support Big Energy has and will always received. Ignorant of history and the promise of science to think otherwise. Timing issues causing pain and dislocation?–yes. Bumps along the way but ultimately, clean relatively cheap energy “for all” will be available. All of us won’t be here to enjoy it, but Darwin dances on.
#35
bOBO.
They control the market.
The problem they have is REGULATORY and supervisory.
The only reason they are not a MONOPOLY, is because they have competition.
What is COMPETITION, if NOT competing? Its enjoying it the RISE..its flying WITH THEM.
tHEY LOVE the ride the OTHER corp is taking/creating.
I go with #5. If you don’t want the military to buy fuel from an oil company exactly who the bleep do you want them to buy fuel from? Chicken farmers?
This was almost certainly a simple competitive bid and BP made the low bid. Not going with the low bid in a case like that would almost certainly be corruption unless the product was defective.
#37 You should be asking why were they able to come in with the lower bid in a commodity product? Maybe because they don’t waste money on unnecessary things like a second backup blowout preventers and cement plug integrety tests.
There is such a double standard for Obama.
I heard Eric Boehlert pointing this out on the radio this morning:
The media and most Americans didn’t blame Bush Sr. for the Exxon Valdez spill. Bush never flew up there. Never held a press conference. Never met with Exxon, (let alone get them to cough-up 20 billion dollars!)
… and Bush was a oil president! Yet no conservative and none of the msm tried to pin any of the US’s second-worst oil disaster on Bush Sr.
Obama, in contrast, has been engaged as hell with this crisis from the beginning and is actually getting stuff done. Yet, everybody, including the liberals, including this blog, are beating the crap out of Obama for this.
#39–Greg–you are getting a bit knee jerk here. True, Bush escaped a push for responsibility for Exxon Valdez but I don’t see a drumbeat “on this blog” against Obama==much less “everybody, including the liberals.”
Silly to take on the same coloring of a teapartier. Facts do speak for themselves, why isn’t the truth enough for you?