BP Violated Established Safety Procedures

BP would like for all of us to believe they were just the victim of a tragic accident in the Gulf of Mexico -- something that could have happened to any company following established drilling procedures. They have even had some of the recipients of their generosity on Capitol Hill, especially Republicans, to take up the mantra that "Accidents will happen." And BP spokesman Robert Wine tells us that "BP's priority is always safety."

That's almost enough to make a person feel sorry for the oil giant except for one thing. It's just a bunch of lies invented to make BP look good and hopefully save it some money. The truth is that BP intentionally ignored established drilling procedures, and when the drillers objected BP ordered them to do it anyway. The company thought the drilling was taking too long and costing too much money, so they ordered shortcuts.

According to the surviving drillers, shortly before the explosion a BP company executive demanded that the heavy mud (injected into the pipe to lower the pressures) be replaced by lighter sea water. The chief driller (who died in the explosion) objected and said he didn't remember it ever being done that way. BP insisted and got their way. This failure to control the pressure in the established way was very probably the cause of the explosion.

These drillers have now filed suit against BP, and their attorney accuses the company of criminal actions. If what the drillers say is true (and I believe it probably is), then the attorney is right on the mark. It's bad enough that the actions of the company have poisoned the Gulf of Mexico and damaged beaches in several states, but several workers died in that blast. If the workers died because BP cut corners on safety precautions, that has to be at least manslaughter and someone needs to be held responsible (and that responsibility probably goes all the way up to CEO Tony Hayward).

It goes without saying that the company should be financially responsible for all the damage they've caused, but now it looks like maybe some jail time for some executives wouldn't be out of order. I'm not going to hold my breath for it though. Corporations may have all the rights of ordinary citizens, but they have too much money to have any of the responsibilities.