Oil Spill Spreading into Coastal Wallets

Brendan Farrington / AP The massive oil slick spreading into the Gulf of Mexico this week.

In the aftermath  of oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP has announced they will pay for the clean up of their oil spill.  Meanwhile, in Alabama…Attorney General Troy King has told representatives of BP Plc. that they should stop circulating settlement agreements among coastal Alabamians.

The agreements require the citizens to forgo their right to sue in exchange for $5000 in what President Obama has described as a “massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster.” Notice the word environmental,  not natural; this was a manmade problem.

Let’s also realize that Alabama has claims to a $400 million seafood industry. Louisiana reels in excess of $2.4 billion dollars annually through crawfish, oysters and shrimp.  As a result of the massive spill, federal officials have already placed a 10 day ban on fishing. The price of seafood has already risen 10% in Gulf coast states where seafood makes up at least 80% of menus.

At a point in our economy where almost every institution is failing and the working class suffers the most, BP has taken the virtuous path and begun relinquishing responsibility by bribing these victims.  This man-made disaster has created a generational problem.  It’s been announced it will take at least 90 days to fix the leak at the bottom of the ocean, but three months is longer than many species of life exist and in an area devastated by Hurricane Katrina, it will be hard to recover financially. If no seafood is caught of sold for at least this amount of time, it could equal a $500 million loss to their economy.

BP has already found the solution: shell out $5000 to residents – the chefs, fisherman and restauranteurs, maybe enough for a month of bills – and flee the scene without any punishment.  From a company whose website and advertising campaigns boast responsibility, quality gasoline and benefits for the community and environment, the angelic BP voices have been singing a different tune.  From the onset, BP have downplayed the effects of the crude oil spill and each new revelation seems to be a revelation to them as well.

The oil spill is hitting their pocket books – BP shares have dropped 20% since April 23 – but for some reason, oil executives have never had a problem turning  profits.  As we can see, they have no problem shifting burdens onto the community.  Doing his talk show rounds, CEO Tony Hayward announced they will pay “legitimate” oil spill claims but a sneaking suspicion says BP lawyers are hard at work pinpointing exactly what that word means.