There’s some really stunning news in this morning’s paper. It seems that BP took “shortcuts” and put finishing the well ahead of safety:
To save time and drilling costs, BP took “shortcuts” that may have led to the oil rig explosion and the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a letter released Monday by two House Democrats leading an investigation of the disaster.
The letter, sent in advance of congressional hearings with senior oil executives this week, paints a damning picture of five decisions the lawmakers said the oil firm took “to speed finishing the well,” which was running “significantly behind schedule.” Marshaling e-mails, interviews and documents, the lawmakers said: “In effect, it appears that BP repeatedly chose risky procedures in order to reduce costs and save time, and made minimal efforts to contain the added risk.”
Who could ever imagine that a corporation doing business in America would disregard the few rules we actually have in place and take “shortcuts”? Certainly no corporate officer would weigh the environment of the entire Gulf Coast against corporate profits and, funny thing, big bonuses and find the scale tipped in favor of profit. Who could have predicted it? Certainly not the Congress that wrote the law limiting liability to $75 million dollars, the law that they are now falling all over themselves to say they want to repeal, but which, what with all the press of business, just might never get repealed. Surely not Obama, who ditched his opposition to off shore drilling to try to look “bi-partisan” and shill for votes anyone in his (or her) right mind knew he’d never get. Certainly not the American people, particularly the folks who live by the Gulf, whose leaders are still pressing for more drilling, without much blowback from the home folks. Aren’t unregulated corporations supposed to avoid this sort of thing because somehow it’s in their long term best interest to do so?
All I can say is that this story certainly deserved the front page coverage it got in the Day. Absolutely shocking and absolutely unexpected. The next thing you know we’ll find out the bankers don’t give a damn whether they bring down the world economy, so long as their bonuses are secure. Now that would be a shocker indeed.
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