Posted on 06/01/2010 1:13:59 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
(Reuters) - The government has launched a criminal probe into BP Plc's (BP.L) massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday.
Federal agencies, including the FBI, are participating in the probe and "if we find evidence of illegal behavior, we will be forceful in our response," Holder told reporters after meeting with state and federal prosecutors in New Orleans.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
I wonder if they are going to include the federal government’s response in the ‘probe’?! /s
They are sending lawyers to do an engineers job.
Verdict first, evidence second is an alice-in-wonderland approach to fixing problems. Instead of hurling accusations, threatening jail, or sending lawyers, the administration should right now be 100% focussed on fixing hte problem and helping to stop the leak. So far, they havent done anything helpful. It’s all on BP.
BP didnt do anything intentional, but they screwed up. When the post mortem is done, they will surely find that risks were either not accounted for properly, and/or
There is always a cause, whether it was human error or some level or risk that was not properly accounted for.
Good engineering always involves the ‘belt and suspenders’ approach of multiple lines of defense to potential risks, especially catastrophic ones. In the other infamous oil spill, Exxon Valdez, it was concluded that double-hulled tankers are a lot safer than single-hulled (as Valdez was); so double-hulled is now required. .
We now know that the Federal Govt has been slow in approving mitigations - booms, centrifugal treatments, dispersants, oil burns - in case after case, the Federal authorities held back approval or were slow to respond.
Blaming BP while being slow to help fix the problem is the wrong approach.
Just like Atlas Shrugged.
When will the Reuters editor figure out this situation is not a “spill?” Call it a catastrophe, eruption, gusher, disaster, etc.
Ah, a “Devil’s Dictionary” definition:
Journalist, noun. “Just a writer who doesn’t understand what’s going on”
Chris Matthews continues to allege that this is all Cheney’s fault. He mentioned a “Bush White House Spokesperson” who now works for BP. Any idea who it is?
The group OFA stands for ..
“Obama Eff’ing America”
You already posted my thoughts.
Good...now they are too busy to look into the Sestak bribe adn appoint an independent council to look into that for us.
They could declare it was an act of god that caused it and say Obama we’d like to help but we are resource constrained right now...so sorry.
But then they still have assets in the US that could be confiscated by the gov’t. So I guess it depends on which is the better move financially.
Additionally, the Justice Department could pursue other traditional charges if they find the companies made false statements or obstructed the investigation.I was wondering what the charge would be. Apparently, the Justice Department will demand all sorts of evidence that isn't really needed to understand what we already know happened and then make a charge of obstruction for not providing every document created by the company over the last few decades.
BP is British. Its going to be much harder for Zero to make a grab for them.
My thought exactly...BP stands for BRITISH PETROLEUM, the bought out AMOCO many years ago...
They should just say...”OK, we’re closing ALL US operations and will no longer sell our BP products in the USA”...adios!
Microsoft should have done this too, just stopped selling Windows years ago when the Klintoon Admin was suing them...
Market tanked in the afternoon on the Israeli warplanes being fired on by Lebanon and the damage done to the oil space by Obama.
As far as accidents go this does not rise up to the level of a drunk driver running someone over. If the market deems that the administration can punish companies with criminal investigations on a whim then prices will reflect that fact. The administration can once more complain about corporations not hiring as they let people go. He hurts the markets,the markets will hurt the economy. Its not planned,its not malice,its just how they work.
Will Hussein give back all his BP-related CAMPAIGN donations? Will Hussein appoint a special prosecutor to investigate BP's ties to the Interior Department and his administration granting of free passes to BP? Will Hussein stop fundraising and golfing and guffawing it up with athletic teams while this leak continues??
I read yesterday that BP has lost something like $40 billion in stocks since this began. They are definitely resource constrained right now. Besides if the very work you are doing is going to be viewed through the lens of a criminal investigation the first thing you do is stop all work.
Post of the Day!
Political grandstanding scares markets.
You know damned well Obama is going to get a pass for ___________ , too.
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