[/caption]British Petroleum announced on June 2 that it supports the United States government's decision to proceed with the construction of six sections of the Louisiana barrier islands proposal. BP will fund the effort to build the six sections which will cost an estimated $360 million
BP will not manage or contract directly for the construction of the island sections. They are merely funding it. They assume no liability for unintended consequences of the project. You wouldn't think that BP would find it necessary to make it clear that they assume no liability for this, as they already have so much to account for that they shouldn't be worried about this.
The company will not pay the entire cost at once, rather they plan to make its payments in stages based on the project's milestones.
BP should not have any difficulty in paying for the efforts as they have already provided $170 million for Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida to help reduce the impact of the disaster on the states' economies. The company has also already paid approximately $42 million in compensation to the people and companies who are being affected by the spill.
The response numbers to date:
• The Obama Administration has authorized 17,500 National Guard troops from Gulf Coast states to participate in the response to the BP oil spill.
• More than 20,000 personnel are currently responding to protect the shoreline and wildlife and cleanup vital coastlines.
• More than 1,900 vessels are responding on site, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts—in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units.
• Approximately 2 million feet of containment boom and 2.1 million feet of sorbent boom have been deployed to contain the spill—and approximately 625,000 feet of containment boom and 1.8 million feet of sorbent boom are available.
• Approximately 13.8 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered.
• Approximately 993,000 gallons of total dispersant have been deployed—755,000 on the surface and 238,000 subsea. More than 364,000 gallons are available.
• 125 controlled burns have been conducted, efficiently removing a total of more than 3.2 million gallons of oil from the open water in an effort to protect shoreline and wildlife.
• 17 staging areas are in place and ready to protect sensitive shorelines, including: Dauphin Island, Ala., Orange Beach, Ala., Theodore, Ala., Panama City, Fla., Pensacola, Fla., Port St. Joe, Fla., St. Marks, Fla., Amelia, La., Cocodrie, La., Grand Isle, La., Shell Beach, La., Slidell, La., St. Mary, La.; Venice, La., Biloxi, Miss., Pascagoula, Miss., and Pass Christian, Miss.
These numbers show that there is, at least, a terrific amount of work being done to clean up the oil spill and to get the Gulf states back to their normal lives.
Speaking of lives, BP's CEO, Tony Hayward said last week, "I'm sorry. We're sorry for the massive disruption it's caused their lives. There's no one who wants this over more than I do. I'd like my life back." After a major uproar on this comment, the CEO apologized and said that those words did not represent how he feels about this tragedy. I don't know what to say about this. I don't think that his apology was very sincere and his earlier statement seems pretty clear.
I think that the 11 people who died in the explosions would like their lives back as well. The people of the Gulf would like their natural coasts back as well. I think that the CEO is not sorry about the oil spill his company caused, rather, he is sorry for the inconvenience caused him. I think that he should address the public with his solution and it is of my opinion that until he personally appears at the Gulf coast wearing protective clothing ready to literally clean up the oil spill we can doubt the sincerity of his apology.
I don't think that BP officials have yet realized the jeopardy that they are currently in. When something like this happens, it is the usual course of action to remove the executive of the guilty company from their positions. I don't think that they appreciate the gravity of the situation, there are thousands of barrels of oil pumping into the Gulf on a daily basis.
Something needs to be done about it and that is what I see Admiral Thad Allen and the Obama Administration doing. I haven't seen Hayward getting down on his knees to examine a soiled plant or a floating carcass of an animal that was affected by the spill.
There are, however, truly motivated people working in the Gulf coast to get this area cleaned up, the oil contained and the flow of oil from the ruptured riser stopped. I think that the most important thing that we can do right now is give our help and support to these people and wait until this disaster is over before we start thinking about who to blame. Currently, the luxury of irresponsibility is one that we cannot afford.
A voice of reason. Thanks.
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