US Senate begins oil spill cover-up

[Hannah Bell]

On Tuesday, the US senate began hearings into the Deepwater Horizon disaster...Appearing before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the morning and the Environmental and Public Health Committee in the afternoon were executives from the three corporations implicated in the disaster: Lamar McKay, president of the US operations of BP, which owned the oil and the drill site; Steven Newman, president of Transocean, the contractor that owned the rig and employed most of its workers; and Tim Probert, an executive with Halliburton, which contracted for the work of cementing the rig’s wellhead one mile beneath ocean’s surface.

The hearing resembled a falling out among thieves, with multi-millionaire executives—who, until April 20, had collaborated in thwarting basic safety and environmental considerations—each blaming the other for the explosion...

Whatever the immediate cause of the disaster, the clear thrust of the hearings was to focus public outrage on a single, correctable “mistake,” such as a mechanical failure or regulatory oversight, in order to obscure the more fundamental reasons for the disaster: the decades-long gutting of regulation carried out by both Republicans and Democrats at the behest of the oil industry that made such a catastrophe all but inevitable...

Indeed, more farcical than the executives’ recriminations against each other was the spectacle of senators attempting to pose as tough critics of the oil industry. The US Senate, like the House of Representatives, the Department of the Interior, and the White House, is for all intents and purposes on the payroll of BP and the energy industry as a whole. Among the senators sitting on the two committees who have received tens of thousands in campaign cash from BP and the oil industry are Richard Shelby (Republican, Alabama), Mary Landrieu (Democrat, Louisiana), John McCain (Repubilcan, Arizona) and Lisa Murkowski (Republian, Alaska)...

None with even a passing familiarity of the workings of Washington or the Senate can have any doubt that Tuesday’s hearings were but the opening of a government whitewash. The ultimate aim is to shield the major industry players and the financial interests that stand behind them from any serious consequences...

In his testimony, (BP rep) McKay boasted that BP would make available “grants of $25 million to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida,” and that it has paid out approximately $3.5 million in damage claims to those affected by the spill. These figures, presented as an act of enormous magnanimity, are such a tiny share of BP’s revenues as to be almost inconsequential.

The company took home $93 million per day in profits—for a total of $6.1 billion — during the first quarter alone.

The $3.5 million in damage claims paid out are significantly less than CEO Tony Hayward’s 2009 compensation, estimated at over $4,700,000 by Forbes.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/may2010/spil-m12.shtml

[leftstreet]

1. K&R

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Exactly.

Why is it WE always end up paying the price, while those bastards waltz off with their Billions?

Sickening.

K&R

[Hannah Bell]

3. $93 MILLION PER DAY IN PROFITS; THEY OFFERED LESS THAN ONE GUY'S SALARY IN DAMAGES.

[lonestarnot]

4. Guess they want people camping out on the lawn to greet them every day.

[subsuelo]

5. "cover up" is a phrase that would be in use more often if we had a real news media (nt)

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. I disagree with that headline.

I watched All of BOTH hearings yesterday.
Sat on my butt and listened to every word, have the written testimony saved on my puter.
I did not see the Senate "beginning a cover up".
In fact, I heard Mendez and Boxer and Whitehouse asking some pretty scathing questions.
Additionally, the afternoon hearings in the Environmental and Public Health Committee were sparsely attended by the Republicans.

What stood out in the hearings was that BP, Transocean, and Haliburton were consistent in
pointing their fingers at each other.
This sentence from the article reflects what I saw and heard:
"The hearing resembled a falling out among thieves, with multi-millionaire executives—who, until April 20, had collaborated in thwarting basic safety and environmental considerations—each blaming the other for the explosion."

There is one paragraph in the story which relates to part of the story:

"Among the senators sitting on the two committees who have received tens of thousands in campaign cash from BP and the oil industry are Richard Shelby (Republican, Alabama), Mary Landrieu (Democrat, Louisiana), John McCain (Republican, Arizona) and Lisa Murkowski (Republican, Alaska)."
No great surprise there, for those few Senators.

However, those 4 Senators do not equate to:
"The US Senate, like the House of Representatives, the Department of the Interior, and the White House, is for all intents and purposes on the payroll of BP and the energy industry as a whole".

While it MAY be true that Big Oil owns our government, it is misleading to
support that argument based on the comments of 4 Senators in a whole day of hearings.

[earth mom]

8. C'mon now. You know everyone in Congress is covering their a$$e$ right now.

That's what they do about EVERYTHING.

It's time to take the rose colored glasses off and see the corruption in Washington DC for what it is.

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. I do not disagree with your comment.

I SAID that the article headline was misleading, then I explained why it was misleading.

If I read a headline that says "everyone in Congress and the White House and Government
is for the oil industry"
I expect to be able to find facts about that headline in the story.

[Kablooie]

7. And the well COULD be closed immediately but they would lose use of it.

It's allowed to remain open because they are trying to keep it available as a well.

That's why the coast is being destroyed, so they can retain their future profits.

[Kalyke]

9. How are they going to stop the average person with a plane?

There was a thread containing amateur video shot from a guy in a plane of the damage. It's horrendous and impossibly large.

I put a Tiny URL link to this footage in my sig line. Start passing it around on all your social networking sites before the government and the oil industry has the OK to shoot down civilians who are trying to view the damage.

[Obamanaut]

10. It is possible to replace one third of that group of weasels this

November. But we won't, and they know it, so they don't really care.

[CreekDog]

11. Hmm, nothing in there about the US Senate covering up the oil spill

very un-useful, especially considering the title.

unrec.

[amborin]

13. knr