BP’s Problems Are More Than 6 Inches Deep

BP keeps shooting itself in the foot with bad decisions and shady practices, even at a time when they have the opportunity to quickly strive for public trust. From its already backed-up victim compensation program to its regulations regarding public beach accessibility, BP continues to try and take blame for the Gulf Oil Spill without actually dealing with the full repercussions.

In a supposedly generous offer by BP, attorney Kenneth Feinberg has decided that BP will not be subtracting the funds paid to BP clean-up crews from their victim compensation for the damages from the spill. In other words, BP won’t make them clean up their mess for free.

Here is a quick, clear breakdown of BP’s original plan:
1) BP causes the biggest oil spill in history, crippling thousands of businesses and putting thousands of residents out of work.
2) BP hires those out-of-work residents to work on the oil spill clean-up.
3) BP pays wages to those workers.
4) BP subtracts those wages earned from their Gulf oil spill victim compensation packages.

Now, BP is telling us that they will skip step 4: steal money from the clean-up crew. Isn’t BP generous?

Do we all remember when BP made those large, no-obligation donations to oil spill clean-up groups? And do we all remember BP’s demand later on that the moratorium be lifted so they could afford to pay the oil spill compensation? BP used its past donations as a bargaining chip to lift the moratorium on new deepwater drilling contracts, claiming they wouldn’t be able to afford it after all the extra donations.

BP is doing the same thing again. By first demanding the wages paid to clean-up crews be subtracted from their compensations, they were able to take back that statement to appear empathetic to the public.

If BP really cared more about the public and environmental problems they caused than the success and sustainability of their company, they would have paid more than $240 million in compensations so far. That is 1.2% of the $20 billion they have promised to pay.

Furthermore, BP continues to limit the media coverage regarding the remaining oil. CNN reporter Dan Thomas took a trip to Gulf Island National Seashore in Florida to explore the beaches and attempt to find oil beneath the sand.

When he began to dig, he was quickly approached by an authority figure and asked if he was looking for oil. He said not necessarily, so the authority figure threatened to call another official if he didn’t want to “cooperate.” When he moved down the beach per the man’s request, he was stopped by yet another official. Watch the full video below.

Later in the video, it’s explained that no digging on the public beach is permitted, even for sandcastles. Even BP employees are only allowed to dig six inches into the sand.

When BP won’t even allow its own employees to dig further than six inches into the sand, you know they are trying to keep something buried.

Could BP still be trying to hide and avoid just how horrible their oil spill was? Obviously.