Oil spill hysteria

WAKE UP

We should have been working on alternatives to oil for the last 40 years, maybe finally this will be a wake up call.

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by: clown hidden @ Mon May 03, 2010 at 20:03:44 PM UTC

oil spill

Karma's a bitch! What I hate about it is that our needs impinge upon other species. It isn't man that has as much to fear as the wildlife that we discriminate against with our Christian conditioning. They are paying the price for our greed and stupidity.


Markp

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by: markp @ Mon May 03, 2010 at 20:18:15 PM UTC

who pays

from Daily Kos
Matthew Wald of The New York Times reports the details of the previously obscure Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a $1.6 billion fund financed by a minuscule tax on oil - eight cents per barrel, which Wald says is roughly 0.1%. According to Wald, the fund is designed to pay damage claims resulting from oil spills, though not cleanup and containment costs. But that's not all it does. It also limits the liability of oil companies like BP.

Under the law that established the reserve, called the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, the operators of the offshore rig face no more than $75 million in liability for the damages that might be claimed by individuals, companies or the government, although they are responsible for the cost of containing and cleaning up the spill.

The fund was set up by Congress in 1986 but not financed until after the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska in 1989. In exchange for the limits on liability, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 imposed a tax on oil companies, currently 8 cents for every barrel they produce in this country or import.

The tax adds roughly one tenth of a percent to the price of oil. Another source of revenue is fines and civil penalties from companies that spill oil.

According to Wald's report, there have been 51 instances in which damages under the $75 million liability cap has been exceeded. That figure will certainly be exceeded with BP's Deepwater Horizon spill. Up to $1 billion from the fund can be used for any single accident, but in this case, $1 billion is likely to be peanuts.

In other words, it was a pretty sweet deal for oil companies: they agreed to a tiny tax which they can pass on to consumers, and in exchange their liability is limited to $75 million. Because they can pass the oil tax along to consumers, it's like they got the liability caps for free.

If this law does indeed carry the final word, and there isn't another way to hold BP accountable for the damage it has caused, then you can chalk up another victory for corporate socialism. And you can bet your bottom dollar that the right won't shed a tear over it.

Maybe there's a change coming:
http://meteor-blades.dailykos....

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by: clown hidden @ Mon May 03, 2010 at 21:11:02 PM UTC

Perspective

In the NYTimes: Gulf Oil Spill Is Bad, but How Bad?

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by: brooke @ Tue May 04, 2010 at 03:14:10 AM UTC

Visual comparison

From Information Is Beautiful
http://www.informationisbeauti...

"If only I had a nickel for every time I've heard someone say that the Soka skunk has changed its stripe." -- auntie

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by: mroaks @ Thu May 06, 2010 at 18:04:49 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Dispersants

The thing that gets me is the use of highly toxic chemical dispersants. BP is dumping thousands of gallons of dispersants in an effort to hide the oil. Dispersants do not make the oil go away or biodegrade more quickly, but they do keep the oil from floating on the surface where it can be photographed.

Please read the article at the link I included. For me, the Buddhist principle illustrated here is "consistency from beginning to end." Fouling the environment to hide a fouled environment succeeds in further fouling the environment.

Why isn't Congress up in arms about this?

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by: auntie @ Wed May 05, 2010 at 23:36:43 PM UTC

CONGRESS

Your question is probably rhetorical because the answer is so obvious. BP is one of the largest energy company contributors to both Republican and Democratic candidates for Congress.  

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by: clown hidden @ Thu May 06, 2010 at 15:18:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]