If you haven't seen this video of the oil leak...it may make you sick!
Oil companies face an immediate tax rise of 1 cent per barrel to help to pay for the clean-up in the Gulf of Mexico under proposed legislation rushed out by the White House yesterday.
The measure, unveiled as BP began a new attempt to contain the ruptured well that has leaked millions of gallons of crude oil into America’s southern coastal waters, would put an extra $500 million (£340 million) over ten years into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which covers damage caused by such disasters.
Under a $118 million spending plan outlined in the package, people affected by the spill — such as fishermen who have lost their livelihoods because of the contamination — will be granted financial assistance, and federal agencies will get additional funds to monitor the slick and assess its impact.
President Obama, said by a spokesman to be “deeply frustrated” that the leak has still not been plugged three weeks after it erupted, intends that BP will pick up most of the cost of his new plan.
Hearings into the incident aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20 continued yesterday in Louisiana and in the US Congress, where Democrat Henry Waxman blamed a “calamitous series of equipment and operational failures” for the disaster. “If the largest oil and oil services companies in the world had been more careful, 11 lives might have been saved and our coastlines protected,” he said.
The way BP and its partners responded to the disaster, which began with an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon on April 20, will also be a matter for investigation.
Survivors have alleged that, after being rescued, they were held at sea while the rig’s owner, Transocean, assembled its lawyers. After being brought ashore, traumatised and exhausted by two nights without sleep, they claim that they were taken to a hotel and “coerced” by Transocean representatives into signing liability waivers before being allowed to see their families.
According to Steven Gordon, of the Houston legal firm Gordon, Elias and Seely, the waivers are now being used against the workers as they attempt to seek compensation for emerging psychological problems that have left some too afraid to work at sea again.
“These people went through holy hell. They have probably just gone through the most traumatic period of their entire lives. They needed counselling — not ‘Please sign here that you’re not hurt’ ,” said Mr Gordon, who is representing Christopher Choy, a rig worker. “When they asked him to sign this, he hadn’t been allowed to sleep and have his first nightmare.”
Mr Choy, 23, teamed up with a firefighter on the rig to try to rescue a crane operator who was trapped by the fire. “They couldn’t get to him because he was in flames. These guys watched their friends burning,” Mr Gordon told The Times.
Alwin Landry, the captain of a cargo ship that was moored alongside the rig, told a hearing in New Orleans that mud began pouring down on him “like a black rain”, followed by a thunderous hiss. “I saw the green flash on the main deck. Time kind of slowed down. I heard the explosion,” he said, adding that minutes later came a radio call: “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! The rig’s on fire. Abandon ship.”
Workers leapt eight storeys into the sea to escape the flames, but even the water was on fire. The last to climb from the rig on to Mr Landry’s boat was the rig’s captain, Curt Kuchta, who tried to hit the “kill” switch to shut the oil well. “He acknowledged he pressed it and didn’t know if it worked or not,” Mr Landry said.
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17 comments:
I support the President's punishment. BP needs to be held entirely responsible for the lack of safety on that rig. When you have a lack of care for your employees and only care about covering your "rear," you don't deserve to be a company. BP needs to take as many hits as possible, because, in the end, they'll just end up screwing over the consumer anyway.
these people deserve more than what they're getting. what happened was a mistaken catastorphe and its not fair for those people on the cost. It must have been horrible not to mention financial burdens they now face. They deserve more than a .1cent tax.
Well, I noticed here how easy it is to blow off disasters when you really don't know what goes on. Eleven lives doesn't seem too bad, but it's still eleven lives, and eleven families and friends all affected. Then of course the trauma all of the people had to experience. It's a suckish situation all the way around, and now coastal workers have to deal with their issues too.
It is completely rediculous that British Petroleum is only being made to pay a 1 cent tax. The damages they have caused are esentially irrepairable and the small tax being levied on them will not produce any results. The punishment must fit the crime and here the punishment is far too light. If an American company were to spill off the coast of the UK, you can bet they would be in a world of hurt, but here in the US, apparently, we don't care of tonnes of toxic chemicals are spewed into the ocean.
The tax is very fair. This spill is more than serious it's catastrophic. That video did make me sick. I feel so sorry for all the workers that have been traumatized, but I'm not sure whos really in the right. I don't think I'd be in any shape to sign a waiver after two days without sleep, but then again they did sign them so legally they're trapped by it. But then again if they were "coerced" I'm not sure how binding it is.
i think BP should pay for every penny of this...and when are those "Drill Baby,Drill" people gonna show up and clean this mess??
I'm very glad president Obama has assigned this tax. Someone has got to pay to quickly clean up this horrible mess. I'm very sorry for the loss of lives, and something needs to be done to assure this disaster never happens again.
This is a good start to help with the clean up of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP should be punished with a $.1 tax and both BP and its partners response to the incident should be investigated. Especially if survivors were required to be held at sea and sign waivers.
This is a great system and one cent per barrel probably wont hurt the oil companies too much anyway. It's their fault and they should have to pay for it. Obama is smart and knows one he's doing. People need help and this small tax shouldnt raise an issue and will hopefully help quickly clean up the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
The oil leak seems like it is getting worse than getting better! If, like in the video, the leak continues at that rate, the southern coastal waters will be filled with oil. It is also sad that the kind of treatment the victims were given before seeing any of their families.
Its sad that almost no officials working for BP, Transocean, and Halliberton have any clue what they are doing. Is one cent per barrel really punishment enough for the damage caused by their reckless incompetence?
Wow. This tax is going to affect everyone even the consumers because the tax will lead to higher gas prices but we the consumers of sea food also want this to be fixed so its going to take everyone's help. But if it isn't cleaned up yet, which it really should after 3 weeks, then a tax may be necessary. If this is going to be resolved we really need to do anything to protect the enviornment.
This punishment of BP by the president will do nothing but drive gas prices even higher. This tax is too roundabout a way to deal with this. The president must fine the company all the money that is being used to clean up the oil spill and force them to compensate their employees and anyone whose life they interfered with.
This is so wrong, I can't imagine going through this. A prime example of when the bottom line takes precedence over people's lives. So sad.
What has happened with this oil spill has been nothing short of a nightmare. The oil company responsible should be held liable for the damages this spill has caused. For them to use these "waiver" forms against the workers is just sick and only proves to the american people that the oil companies only care about themselves, their assets, and making a profit no matter what.
i think the oil spill situation is rediculous. its just another way for the government to put people out of work, and for them to try and control our lives. all they are doing is killing the food that others eat...and destroying the jobs that people rely on to provide for their families...they just want complete control over us.
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