In honor of the late Ashley Morris, I am using his FYYFF rant to nail Beyond Petroleum British Petroleum and their sweetheart David Vitter. Yeah, dat's right, Louisiana, BP does not stand for Beyond Petroleum, it stands for BRITISH Petroleum. And yet some of our nation's illustrious conservatives seem to think it's "un-American" to criticize BP for its efforts in responding to the disaster in the Gulf that they wrought because they didn't want to follow proper safety procedures prior to drilling some 18,000 feet under the sea, all in the name of saving a few bucks.
Don't believe me? Then watch this video, and you'll be outraged at British Petroleum:
So ... British Petroleum, FYYFF.
But far worse than calling folks un-American for criticizing British Petroleum is carrying their water up in on Capitol Hill. And guess who is doing dat?
Yeah, dat's right, the Sinning Senator himself.
The bill he asked the Senate to give unanimous consent to - the BP Bailout Bill - caps the economic liability of British Petroleum to $150 million OR it's last 4 quarters of profits, whichever is higher. To be fair, BP's last four quarter's of profits were $20 billion. But the bill doesn't designate any company as the "responsible" party, it simply relates back to the Oil Pollution Action of 1990, which makes the companies holding the lease responsible for any environmental disaster.
Why is this relevant? Because BP doesn't own the entirety of the lease, it only owns 65% of it. Another company, Anadarko, owns 25% of the lease. In the last 4 quarters, Anadarko has lost $135 million, so they would face no more than $150 million in liability, despite the fact that they hold an estimated $50 billion in assets. And take a wild guess at how much money Anadarko has given the Sinning Senator since his campaign for the Senate in 2004?
At least $14,000. That's just the PAC that Anadarko has. It doesn't include their employees' individual giving, but my money is on a lot more cash being given to the Sinning Senator from Anadarko, as he is the #2 recipient of oil & gas campaign cash in the United States Senate for the last five years, to the tune of $389,000.
Thankfully, y'all have the opportunity to kick the Sinning Senator to the curb by voting him out of office this fall. Don't squander the opportunity to do so, Louisiana.
