Three years after the BP oil spill, in which BP’s criminal negligence took the lives of eleven workers before dumping tar and oily crude over 30,000 square miles of the gulf- BP is in court this week in a civil trial where a finding of gross negligence would mean the company is liable to the U.S. for as much as $17.6 billion in Clean Water Act fines.
The question I have for you is, what is the appropriate penalty for a corporation whose record profits yielded profits of over 2 million dollars every hour of every day — is that punishment enough? Let me know in the comments- how would you levy punishment on BP?
Keep in mind that, in no uncertain terms, it is the push to maximize profits- and winner take all quarterly shareholders capitalist mentality that killed those workers and devastated the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico is the reason for the destruction. What we won’t hear in the civil trial is any talk of revoking BP’s corporate charter.
I wish.
A better route might be to require they spend the rest of their corporate lives cleaning up the Gulf, no matter what the costs…period. Fix it or else. These corporations are ‘about to restart their engines in the ARTIC SEA….as soon as the winter ice allows their ships to reenter….the western oil corps near Alaskan rigs and the opposite end with Russian rigs. Only Sea Shepherd from Greenpeace was attempting to intervene last year before the ice reformed. the People ought to join with Greenpeace and fight to save the last pristine area left on planet earth. The artic circle…..anyone want to weigh the costs if that area had a blow out like the BP Gulf of Mexico failure.?
They tried that and they dumped more chemicals in the gulf to “disperse” the oil and was able to pay for police protection that banned journalists and photographers from recording their actions. Beware what you wish for.
Hang the ba@tards as far as I’m concerned. Not just BP, but all the major oil companies. What they’ve done in the Gulf, in the Niger Delta, in Ecuador and elsewhere is sickening.
Absolutely Yes, BP should be dechartered (Corporate death penalty) and its assets used to clean up the gulf and other oil spills and for investment in renewable energy.