Joe Barton's Apology to BP

[richlevy]

Listening to the apology, I came away shocked. There have always been two mantras to conservative agendas:

1) Less regulatory interference in business
2) Need for personal responsibility.

It's clear from the fact that there is a Gulf disaster that there was negligence. Anywhere from simple negligence to 'depraved indifference'. There is no denying it.

Beyond the 'before disaster' items that are being discussed, there is also the fact that BP deliberately or negligently underreported the spill rate by a factor of anywhere from 20 to 60, affecting the initial containment response.

Picture a person hitting someone with a car, calling 911, and telling the operator that the person struck was only slightly injured when in fact they were bleeding out.

These are indisputable 'facts'. The only argument is criminal culpability and how much other actors such as Halliburton and the BP's partners were involved.

I'm not a lawyer, but IMO from a tort perspective this is pretty much a lock. You have negligence and damage, and the damage, direct and indirect, is going to be substantial.

From experience with Exxon, it is known how long claims took to be settled, and while the Bush Supreme Court reduced punitive damages, even it couldn't reduce actual claims.

Four states have been impacted. One of those states, Florida, has almost no oil industry. Louisiana, which is taking the worst hit, has a very active oil industry.

Florida is led by a conservative governor who is concerned about the effects on his economy. He is pretty much %100 for principal #2 and %0 for principal #1.

Joe Barton is from a state which has a large oil industry and has been unaffected by the spill. He is pretty much %100 for principal #1 and %0 for principal #2. In other words, if a business causes direct damage, unlike a person it should be insulated from requirements for compensation.

In other words, to be successful in an uber-capitalist system, a business may need to operate with OPM and OPP - Other Peoples Money and Other Peoples Pain.

The man is a douche bag. It is, however, understandable how he came to be minority leader of the committee and might become the chairman if Republicans take back the House of Representatives.

Formally known as the Macondo prospect, the damaged well is located on Mississippi Canyon Block 252 in the Gulf of Mexico in a water depth of 5,000 feet.
BP serves as the operator, holding a 65 percent interest in the leasehold prospect and Anadarko holds 25 percent. The remaining 10 percent is owned by MOEX Offshore 2007, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan's Mitsui Oil Exploration Ltd.
On April 20, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig leased by BP exploded and caught fire when the test well had been completed, but not capped. The rig sank on April 22, leaving the damaged wellhead spilling crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate now estimated as at least 35,000 barrels per day. Eleven crewmembers died in the incident and 17 others were injured.

The oil has fouled coastlines in four states - Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, and has caused the fisheries closure of about one-third of the gulf.