British Petroleum

[Jillx]

Will British Petroleumm ever get it right, ? The CEO earns 3,000,000 British Pounds per annum!!!

[mikotyk]

Personally, I'm not sure but I wouldn't be surprised if they do.

[Jillx]

Watching right now the under water cam, of oil gushing out even more, after today's latest attempt to stop this disaster.

[Moderator]

Well, they are running very nice ads telling everyone that they will pay all legit claims. I just hope the governments concerned see to it that BP doesn't go out of business, and does pay everyone directly impacted back, even if it takes them the next 100 years worth of a portion of their profits. (People can't wait that long to be paid, but governments can. Goverments pay the people, then BP pays them back over time.) And since the fishing fleets can't go out to fish at the moment due to the spill, they should be hired to help with the cleanup, and then paid what they would have made for the lost season (taken from the fines BP will eventually have levied against them.) If the world were fair. Is the world fair? Looks like we have a real good chance to see first hand, if it is, with this horrible man made disaster.

[donnarose]

Oh, Jillx!

How is this affecting you? I see you are in FL.

[biddenden_sue]

The CEO appeared on TV on Sunday morning here in the UK, promising to compensate everyone who has been affected. He has also said that all money raised from that well from now on (since they are now catching a lot of the oil) will be invested back into that area. They have been employing the fisherman to pull the booms around the oil, and I think they will continue to do so for as long as people and boats are needed, as it would be illogical to employ anyone else but them.

I know it has been a huge disaster, but be thankful that it has happened in the western world, and that such a prolific and wealthy international company is responsible, as the money will NOT run dry.

If it had happened in Russia or China, there would be no compensation, and we all know it. Just think about all the mining disasters that we hear about from those two countries.

I also think the American people should ease up on Barack Obama - after all, it's not HIS fault, and he has been in constant contact with BP, and has visited the area 4 times since it happened, so I can't really see how he can do much more.

If anyone is in any doubt about the size of the spill, google "if it was my home" - not only does that site use google maps to show the size of the spill, and areas affected, but it also allows you to type in your home town to see the area covered by oil if it had happened there.

[Gold Usher]

I heard today the Netherlands offered a fleet of ships to come over and help contain and collect the oil.
The assistance was refused because of a law about foreign ships operating within a distance to the US shore as being a danger to security. The other reason proposed is Obama wants to be able to fine BP so many dollars per barrel lost at sea to help finanace all the goverment handouts he given away since taking office.

Either way, people seem to have the idea that Florida has been totally contaminated where it's only been on the far north~western area of the state in what's called (and shaped like) The Panhandle. The western coast and eastern side are still clean as far as I know. Of course the people in Florida depend hugely on tourism and since the economy is in the loo here, misconceptions about oil soaked beaches might as well just pull the chain on the loo and finish us all off.

I myself in a small show of support for the effort BP is making to salvage this horrible situation --tanked up with $20 worth of gas. The company apparently is going to need it. I did see last Sunday people with signs at the station near my house saying to boycott BP.

[biddenden_sue]

As a point of interest, they haven't been called BRITISH Petroleum for years, it's just BP, as they are multinational.

They have 40% British Shareholders and 39% US Shareholders, so at the moment all this BP-bashing that is going on in the US is damaging just as many shareholders in their own country as it is in ours. Doesn't make much sense to me.

They should focus on the positive aspects of all their hard effort so far and the promises that they are openly giving and stop treating the company like a whipping boy. Well done, Gold Usher, for filling up at a BP station.

[Mouser]

It should be pointed out that BP station owners are independent and NOT owned by BP. Station owners don't really make any money off of gas. An inlaw of mine's family owns a Conoco station and the money they make from Gasoline, only pays the electric bill and that's it. The profit comes from the convenience store. No gas station is making money from gas.

I am getting tired of hearing Obama blamed for the spill too. Geez, can we stop using our energy to blame and maybe SOLVE a problem?

Yeah, drill baby, drill, and now see what's happened. Greed and the world's corporations poison the earth. Be it oil, pharmaceuticals, agribusiness or whatever.

Sorry, had a glass of wine tonite and I'm all fired up.

[Gold Usher]

Exactly Mouser! My brother-in-law had a gas station for a short time and he said he made only about 6 CENTS per gallon (and this was back in the mid 1980s on a main street in Portland, Forest Ave.) He had to augment the gas with mechanic work as the station wasn't built to be a store. Now my first husband's house was a true country variety store with one gas pump outside the front door(they lived upstairs on the second floor) in the middle of nowhere in Pownal Maine at the four corners. His mother made more money on the lunch counter and beer/ciggies/ bread and milk than they did on the gas and kerosene pumps. I remember pumping kerosene for a few residents still used oil lamps and heaters.

I was listening to the radio while painting glass (duplicating a 1910 window) and hearing an advert for the BP station owners. "We are just as upset and distressed as you are regarding the disasterous oil spill in the Gulf. As an independant owner of a BP station, we want to remind you we have provided jobs in the community and supported the local economy in these times. We need your support in return as we have nothing to do with the spill directly other than we sell BP gasoline." Pretty much saying 'we're innocent but you seem to think we're in kahoots and responsible' with a plea...don't kill our business...times are bad enough already.