Bob,
I share your concern regarding the distribution of the emergency compensation funds. This situation is drawing politicians and lawyers out of the woodwork. Hopefully their profiteering can be minimized so that the people affected are able to receive at least some relief in a timely manner. If not - the people that truly need the help will become even more desperate than they already are, while the BS and political posturing continues.
I donāt agree with you about BP being commended for their response at this point. If they wanted to remain afloat and not suffer even more severe public relations hits - they had to do something. Without the position and persistence of the administrations āoutrageā - do you think this step ( or the delay of dividend payouts ) would have happened on itās own? I donāt, and if I was a BP stockholder - I would have been pissed if they had done this voluntarily. While again I clarify that I am not an Obama supporter, nor do I agree with most of his current spend crazy policies - I feel he did exactly what he had to do, including the 6 month deep well drilling moratorium. While he is taking a blasting politically on this (thousands of jobs in limbo - more damage to gulf coast economies - big $ oil pressure, etc.) it just seems like common sense at first glance.
The thing that bothers me as an American with environmental concerns is why the administration is being blasted on all fronts about the moratorium on NEW deep wells. As a result of the spill - there still is no change in the regulations such that they require the additional safety measures with deep wellās that other countries require. There is no indication that the MMS will be better prepared to monitor compliance of deep well sites, and eliminate the practice of issuing environmental waivers. And even with the existing deep wells that are allowed to continue operating - does anyone really think there is any capacity to deal with an additional incident if it were to occur?
With regards to your continued need to relate the Union Carbide Bhopal disaster to the Deepwater Horizon spill. Beyond your initial perception that the administration and to an extent the American people as a whole were being tougher on BP because they were not an American corporation, your references seem pretty off-base and rather hypocritical to me. Do you seriously think that the people of Bhopal give a ratās behind about what the current president of the US ( yes the one sworn in 24 years after the Union Carbide disaster) is outraged about? While I think they deserved to see Warren Anderson in the Indian court system - why would they care if he was put in front of the circus clowns that are the US Congress?
Tony Hayward earned his time in that seat. While I agree with Solo that these types of hearings are usually nothing more than political theater for show - there are often occasions where you can take something away from them. What I took away is confirmation that a certain Texas congressman is a complete big $ oil shill that doesnāt deserve to represent working class Americans. I also learned that BPās CEO is willing to take one for the team, and that BP should seriously be looking for a new PR firm!
Dean