The Gulf of Mexico crude oil leak is partially the fault of the 1990 U.S. Congress that passed the 66-page “Oil Pollution Act of 1990″ obligating BP to pay only for the oil removal and cleanup.
This legislation exempts BP from liability for damages that they cause to the Gulf Coast seafood and tourist industries, except for the first $75 million. The Louisiana people are just plain out of luck.
With a disaster like this, an oil exploration company could have its entire assets on the line to be lost if it were required to remove the oil, clean the pollution and cover damages to businesses. The Gulf of Mexico crude oil leak might not have occurred if BP executives were more cautious and safety conscious.
BP and other oil exploration companies are influenced by this legislation to take more risks when drilling, since only $75 million of BP assets can be lost to reimburse businesses in the event that the oil company causes some multi-billion dollar disaster like this one.
The oil company lobbyists probably spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on wine, food, song, and vacations to entice U.S. representatives and senators to pass this 1990 legislation that partially limits their liability in disasters.
Gerald R. Spencer, P.E.,
President, Spencer Engineers, Inc.
Houston, Texas
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Posted June 3, 2010 at 8:00 am, in Free Speech Zone
June 3rd, 2010 at 8:05 pm
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June 4th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Are the MMS bureaucrats that were watching internet porn instead of enforcing BP compliance with government offshore drilling regulations still on the US government payroll?
At least the Obama administration fired their political appointed (lawyer) MMA boss who knew very little about offshore drilling, and did not even monitor the activities of her bureaucrat employees who were supposed to be enforcing the BP offshore drilling instead of watching internet porn. Why did the Obama administration appoint this person to that job in the beginning?
Are any more unqualified people serving in appointed jobs that should be fired? The Republicans are equally guilty of appointing unqualified people to administer federal government functions.
Maybe all positions below Cabinet level should not be political appointments.