BP to defend spill as Obama pitches greener U.S.

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 6/15/10 | Ayesha Rascoe and Chris Baltimore

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON/HOUSTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will outline a plan to reduce the country's addiction to oil on Tuesday after U.S. lawmakers say BP's cost-cutting culture caused the worst spill in U.S. history.

A day after BP shares fell 9 percent in London and New York, U.S. lawmakers will ask its U.S. boss Lamar McKay why the company made repeated choices that appeared to favor cost savings over safety before its rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico.

The accusations come as BP, a listed company which has lost about half it's market value since the spill began almost two months ago, was stripped of its AA debt rating by rating agency Fitch.

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U.S. politicians have also been calling on BP to scrap its quarterly dividend to ensure it has enough money on hand to cover these costs.

BP shares were down 1.3 percent at 350.7 pence at 1246 GMT (8:46 a.m. EDT) on Tuesday.

McKay, the head of BP America, will be surrounded at the congressional hearings by executives from Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell seeking to stave off repercussions for the industry.

McKay's rivals are likely to hang him out to dry in a rush to prove their companies would never take such risks or face such failures as the spill that has poured millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

"This incident represents a dramatic departure from the industry norm in deepwater drilling," Exxon Mobil Chairman and Chief Executive Rex Tillerson said in prepared testimony obtained by Reuters.

The April 20 explosion on an offshore rig killed 11 workers and ruptured BP's well. The spill has fouled 120 miles of U.S. coastline, imperiled multibillion-dollar fishing and tourism industries and killed birds, sea turtles and dolphins.

[NormsRevenge]

title change..

Obama to capitalize on spill in high-stakes speech

[UCANSEE2]

In the effort to turn the country green (well, turn their pockets green, anway), they are turning the country to 'brown'.

[UCANSEE2]

First get them pulled in to the concept, which they, as liberals, already are.

Then publicize a list of all the things that are made from or use oil.

Insist they do without these things. Like... a computer keyboard. Or the monitor. Or their house, their car, their hydrid, their clothes, the hangers they are on.

The items on the shelf in WALMART. The shelves, and the store itself.

Their toothbrush, their combs and hairbrushes..... One could go on for weeks.