BP's Horrible Safety Record: It's Got 760 OSHA Fines, Exxon Has Just 1

Business Insider ^ | Jun. 2, 2010, 2:07 PM | Vince Veneziani

[CatoRenasci]

BP has been foremost among the oil (excuse me, energy) companies in cozying up to the environmentalists, the Democrats, and Obama specifically. Real proponents and practitioners of crony capitalism.

[EBH]

To accomplish the goals of fatality, injury, and illness reduction set forth in the Strategic Management Plan, an effort was made to identify a list of industries with high injury/illness rates and a high proportion of severe injuries/illnesses for focused targeting of outreach and enforcement activity. Several criteria were used in the identification of these industries. These criteria were as follows:

* Industries with at least 5,000 total injury and illness cases in Calendar Year (CY) 2000;
* Industries with a lost workday injury/illness rate (LWDII) of 3.0 or greater in CY 2000;
* Industries not in construction;
* Industries with no more than 30% of injuries and illnesses involving days away from work caused by ergonomic events; and
* Industries with at least 50% of injuries and illnesses involving days away from work so severe as to result in at least six days away from work.

Based on these criteria, seven industries were selected to be used in targeting direct interventions, for inclusion in the strategic surveillance program, and for use as performance measures. The industries that met these criteria are:

* Landscape and Horticultural Services [View the PDF (299Kb)]

* Oil and Gas Well Drilling and Servicing [View the PDF (140Kb)]

* Preserved Fruits and Vegetables [View the PDF (116Kb)]

* Primary Metals and Basic Steel Products [View the PDF (167Kb)]

* Ship and Boat Building and Repair [View the PDF (330Kb)]

* Public Warehousing and Storage [View the PDF (116Kb)]

* Concrete and Concrete Products [View the PDF (252Kb)]

Could be they just haven’t gotten around to Exxon yet.
http://www.osha.gov/dep/industry_profiles/index.html

[ilovesarah2012]

BP is always the highest gas where I live. We never go there.

[Tribune7]

I guess they figured helping 0 get elected would be the best way to stop the silly regulatory harassment.

[LomanBill]

>>BP priced fixed propane for home heating oil in 2004
>>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/23/AR2007102302255.html
>>I got screwed bigtime on my home heating.

Somehow I don't think those kind of antics are what Thomas Jefferson had in mind...

 

Commerce isn't equitable when:

Hos 12:7
7 The merchant uses dishonest scales;
he loves to defraud.
NIV

More like that "COMMERCE BETWEEN MASTER AND SLAVE IS DESPOTISM" thingee, he frowned upon...

What would TJ do?  Too bad so few presidents lately seem to be looking out their/our office window, across the tidal basin - where Jefferson is scowling straight at them... and asking that question.

[worst-case scenario]

If they bought off the administration, why are they getting so many penalties? Shouldn’t the bribes have protected them?

Or perhaps they *didn’t* buy off the administration, and they are actually bad actors.

That explosion in Texas City made me believe they are just a corporation willing to go to *any* length, no matter how dangerous, to speed up profit flow.

[Uncle Miltie]

But BP is the GREEN oil company!

[worst-case scenario]

Whatever it’s worth, BP’s PAC contributed no money to Obama. He got $71,00 all from BP employees - out of $656 million, almost all of which was from individuals.

Check out opensecrets.org; it’s got all the details about the campaign contributions for every candidate as long as there has been reporting of it. A great resource to battle corruption.

[10Ring]

I got screwed bigtime on my home heating.

No, you didn't.

Maybe you didn't hear about it, but: Judge dismisses charges of price fixing against former BP propane traders. But, if it makes you feel better, BP lost $10 million on this operation and the short-sellers got squeezed for approx. $50 million...and BP paid a fine for the privilege.

I pinged LB since he has a "cute" habit of asking what Thomas Jefferson would have done. I'm sure TJ would be elated that the CFTC shook down BP for $300 mil in protection money. (Todd is pinged to help LB with the definition of short-seller.)

[Tribune7]

0 & BP certainly have a cozy, long-time relationship

During his time in the Senate and while running for president, Obama received a total of $77,051 from the oil giant and is the top recipient of BP PAC and individual money over the past 20 years, according to financial disclosure records.

It should make you go hmmmmm.

[Toddsterpatriot]

They colluded to buy high and sell low.

Jefferson warned us about that.

[worst-case scenario]

Like I said, the top recipient of money from *individuals* who stated that they work for BP. Almost all of it during the 2008 campaign - *none* from the BP PAC.

BP’s American headquarters are in IL, so a lot of their employees would have had Obama as their Senator, which would make their support conceivably related to that fact.

No, it doesn’t make me go hmmmm. 71K or even 77K is only 0.1% of the total that was donated to Obama. There has to be more of a smoking gun than that.

[Tribune7]

That a Democrat would be the subject of the most donations by an oil company makes me go hmmmm and the BP PAC appears to have contributed to 0's Senate race.

There is no smoking gun just a lot of things that should raise questions and 0 being BP's biggest recipient is one of them. Others would include things like Rahm Emmanuel getting rent-free housing from BP consultant Stanley Greenberg and Deepwater Horizon getting exempted from an environmental study.

Now, it could be that these things are innocence and coincidence, and none of them have anything to do with "The Chicago Way" and if you want to dismiss them that is your choice.

As for me, I'll go hmmmm and keep bringing them up.

[LomanBill]

That’s not a horse 10Ring is riding. It’s just two coconuts being clacked together.

[Toddsterpatriot]

That’s funny, considering you keep running away without explaining who broke into your house and what they took.

[worst-case scenario]

I agree! Bring up everything that seems hinky. There can’t be enough scrutiny of this man, or any President.

The BP PAC DID contribute $1000 to Obama’s Senate campaign. But I don’t think that Obama ever received so much in 2008 that it would have caught his notice one way or another. The donations he got from BP were contributed by over 150 individuals, and he raised close to $700 million in 2008, all told. The trial attorneys contributed millions and millions and millions, in comparison.

I am just wary of the “post hoc, ergo propter hoc” fallacy. Just because Event A occurred before Event B does not mean that Event A is responsible for Event B. I read Talking Points Memo for the reason that they explore in greater detail a lot of these items you mention. That Rahm Emanuel - Rose Lauro rental is one example.

The fact that the permit for the Deepwater Horizon got a waiver for drilling is suspicious. However, I’d like to find out if that exemption was itself an exception to the way MMS approved these permits, or if it was standard operating procedure in that agency.

If the approval was out of the ordinary, then it demands investigation. If such waivers were commonplace, then it doesn’t look like BP got special treatment. Have you got any more info on that?

It’s hard to examine any person’s record with an unprejudiced eye when you just don’t trust the character. However, that isn’t reason why we should presume guilt without looking at all the facts.

[LomanBill]

Not running away, just ignoring the Frat House Parrot.

I asked if it is permissible for me, so long as I incorporate and sell shares of the loot, to break into YOUR house and take whatever I want.

Well, is it permissible - Yes or No?

[Tribune7]

However, that isn’t reason why we should presume guilt without looking at all the facts.

I agree. The questions don't prove guilt but they do suggest a trial is needed.

[Toddsterpatriot]

There you go, running away again. LOL!

[10Ring]

Since LB keeps running away, he should pick up a copy of the book Flight From Monticello. It was written by a guy who did a white-wash biography of J. Kerry, so he can believe every word.