Largest Tar Sands Oil Producer, Seeking To Avoid “Foregone Revenue,” Announces Fewer Safety Checks

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Suncor Energy, the largest producer in Canada’s tar sands oil operations, has announced it will require fewer major safety maintenance “shut-down” checks at its Alberta production sites, decreasing the required checks to once every five years, down from its prior four-year schedule.

Steve Douglas, Suncor’s vice president of investor relations, said that routine safety shut downs cost the company money due to necessary replacement of equipment, labor, and lost revenue during the shut-down. This was reported by Reuters on June 7.

Ignoring the implications for public health, safety, and carbon-related climate consequences of tar sands operations, Douglas focused on revenue stream, saying, “You’re entirely down during a maintenance period. There’s significant foregone revenue during a period like that. It’s material.”

With not just a hint of Orwellian logic, the decision to require fewer major safety checks was made despite many high-profile Suncor accidents in recent months and years.

Excerpted from: http://planetsave.com/2013/06/14/largest-tar-sands-oil-producer-seeking-to-avoid-foregone-revenue-announces-fewer-safety-checks/

See more at the link including a list of some of Suncor's recent transgressions.

[fasttense]

1. Reducing safety checks to increase profits

Now that's capitalism at its best.

The cost of the more frequent spills, ruptures and damage to the environment and homes, and illness cost are NOT calculate into the capitalist equation. Society must pick up all those costs while the capitalist is never, ever held to account for the destruction and deaths he has caused.

It's the whole system of capitalism that is corrupted and broken. It has to go.

[tclambert]

2. Oh, it's okay if a few more people die--the company will make a few pennies more of profit.

It's okay unless you believe in some fringe morality that doesn't put profit above all else. Everybody in the business world knows that profit is how you measure morality.

[marmar]

3. Straight-up capitalism......

....... It's a real killer !!!!

[another_liberal]

4. A few ultra-rich guys . . .

Big energy and big finance are now exercising ownership rights to the Earth itself, and when the big energy multinationals finish with our planet the human race will be reduced to a few ultra-rich guys living on mountain tops, far above the poisoned wastelands they created for the rest of us.