Posts Tagged ‘BP’

December14

If the BP disaster was an “incident,” then Katrina was a little rainstorm

By: Angela Bradbery

You just can’t make this stuff up.

The government announced today that it is going to let BP do exploratory deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Yes, BP — the oil giant that in April 2010 was at the helm  of the worst environmental catastrophe in our history. That BP. It was awarded $27 million of leases by the Interior Department.

This happened on the same day that the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council said in a report that more needs to be done to prevent another Gulf drilling catastrophe. I am not making this up.

The National Journal story about this development quoted Michael Bromwich, the former head of the main offshore energy regulator, as saying in October that the BP disaster was just “one incident” that did not justify “the administrative death penalty.”

As Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, said in a statement  released today, calling the BP disaster an “incident” is like calling Katrina a little rainstorm.

Yes, the federal agency charged with overseeing offshore oil drilling got an overhaul after the BP spill, but Congress never acted on the package of measures developed after the disaster to boost environmental and worker safety in the Gulf. Those were critical to helping stave off further oil gushers. God forbid lawmakers should anger the big oil giants.

Read Slocum’s full statement here.

 

 

Posted in: Energy, Regulation0 comments

September29

Public Citizen president takes on corporations on The Daily Show

By: Dorry Samuels

In the midst of the current economic crisis, one group isn’t struggling so much: corporations. They’ve had sky-high profits, have opted out of paying taxes and have all the governmental support they need. Must be nice, huh?

So, last night the folks over at The Daily Show wondered, well, if corporations can be considered people — as the U.S. Supreme Court and presidential candidate Mitt Romney have alleged — could people use the same money-grubbing tactics corporations use to rebound from their financial plight? Let’s explore.

First, The Daily Show crew needed an expert. But who? Aha! That’s where we come in. Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee called in Public Citizen president Robert Weissman to guide a struggling family through the same processes corporations go through to save cash.

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Posted in: Activism, Campaign Finance, Congress, Financial Reform2 comments

July26

BP’s ‘disappointing’ profits — still sky-high

By: Dorry Samuels

Poor BP. The multibillion-dollar oil company that has continued to pollute our waters and ignore the safety of its workers just can’t win.

This morning, BP reported its disappointing profits for the second quarter: only $5.6 billion. Boo hoo.

Oh, wait. As Think Progress points out:

Despite making $11 billion in profits in just 2011 alone, BP and its other Big Oil allies continue to aggressively lobby Congress to maintain their billions of dollars in oil industry tax breaks. A quick look at some other key facts:

  • BP has already spent $2 million lobbying Congress this year.
  • BP has made more than $40,000 in political contributions in just 2011, with 93 percent going to Republicans.
  • The Big Five oil companies — BP, Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell — made more than $900 billion in profits (figure in 2011 dollars) – almost a trillion dollars – over the previous decade.

Then take into consideration that of the $20 billion BP allotted for its escrow fund to repay the victims of its devastating oil spill last summer, the company has doled out only $4 billion. And if that weren’t bad enough, BP wants to stop paying the Gulf’s victims because “the tourism industry is booming, all federal fishing grounds have reopened, and the shrimp catch has been plentiful.”

I really wonder who’s looking after the company’s PR because this is outrageous.

Posted in: Energy, Environment0 comments

July25

Public Citizen’s Week on Tap

By: Dorry Samuels

Flickr photo by fragglerawker_03

What’s up this week at Public Citizen? We’re keeping busy to make sure that your voices are being heard in the halls of power.

Today, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg will speak at Public Citizen about drugs and safety. Follow @citizenangela on Twitter for her live-tweeting of the event, or check back here on Citizen Vox for our take on the event.

Also this week, folks down in Public Citizen’s Texas office will send a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives urging members from the Lone Star State to vote against a bill that would reduce the review of a proposed oil pipeline running through the Ogallala Aquifer in Texas. The pipeline would transport the dirtiest oil in the world through America’s largest freshwater aquifer, risking a major oil spill and causing dangerous pollutants to be released into the air during the refining process.

Public Citizen will also stand up for an energy activist this week who was convicted in March of making a false statement and violating a federal onshore oil and gas lease act. Now he could face up to 10 years in jail, as well as $750,000 in fines. Public Citizen will vouch for him, saying that protecting the environment is not a crime, and will highlight the absurdity of this activist being charged when real environmental and safety predators — like Massey Energy and BP — walk away from their disasters unharmed.

And stay tuned for later in the week, when Public Citizen petitions the FDA to require manufacturers of a drug to warn about a rare, but serious adverse effect that could leave patients with detached retinas and impaired vision.

Check back. We’re on the go, with you, the American consumers, on our minds and agendas.

Posted in: Activism, Congress, Energy, Environment, Health, Pharmaceuticals, Product Safety, Texas0 comments

May17

Senate gives Big Oil another free pass

By: Tyson Slocum

Tyson SlocumJust what Big Oil needed: another victory. First, Congress fails to pass legislation that would respond to last summer’s catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Then, President Barack Obama announces that his administration will expand offshore drilling, which means more money for the oil industry.

But now, despite overwhelming public support, the U.S. Senate has failed to pass the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act (S. 940), which would have repealed tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil and gas companies over the next decade.

Big Oil is racking up the victories while working families pay the price. Yet again Big Oil defies the odds and gets a minority of lawmakers to support its narrow agenda at the expense of the American public.

The oil industry has killed efforts to be fully liable for the messes it makes in offshore oil spills, and now it holds on to its coveted tax breaks, despite overwhelming evidence that they are no longer needed. What is desperately needed are investments in clean energy to reduce our dependence on oil and deficit reduction. But Big Oil can’t be bothered to be a part of the solution. Instead, the industry uses its money and influence to keep its taxpayer handouts coming.

The big five oil companies – which in the last quarter racked up $36 billion in net profits – will continue to receive taxpayer money because many in the Senate have closer ties to those giant corporations than their own constituents.

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Posted in: Energy1 comments

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