From the moment the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig exploded back in April, BP Oil has stuck to its official storyline: it did everything in its power to prevent the accident that killed 11 men and has since spewed millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. But now, there appears to be somewhat of a crack in that storyline.
A recently obtained document appears to go to the heart of BP procedures. It seems that before the company’s major environmental disaster, at a time when the oil giant had a choice between cost-saving methods and greater safety, it chose to go the cost-savings route. And sadly, BP chose to illustrate that choice, by invoking the classic fairy tale of the “Three Little Pigs” comparing the lives of its workers to the lives of disposable pigs.
Attorney Brent Coon, who is representing the families of the killed workers said he discovered internal BP documents that showed the oil giant had chosen to use flimsy trailers to house workers during the day, rather than blast-resistant structures, hoping to save some money at the refinery. “We found a presentation on the decision to buy the trailers that showed BP using “The Three Little Pigs” to describe the costs associated with the four [refinery housing] options,” said Coon “They even had drawings of three pigs on the report.” The two-page document, prepared by BP’s risk managers in October 2002 as part of a larger risk preparedness presentation, and titled “COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF THREE LITTLE PIGS,” is harrowing:
“Frequency—the big bad wolf blows with a frequency of once per lifetime.”
“Consequence—if the wolf blows down the house then the piggy is gobbled.”
“Maximum justifiable spend (MJS)—a piggy considers it’s worth $1000 to save its bacon.”
So “Which type of house should the piggy build?” the report asks.
It then answered its own question in a hand-written note: “Optimal,” is marked next to an option that offers solid protection, but avoids selecting the “blast resistant” trailer, typically all-welded steel structures, that cost 10 times as much.
As I see it and have expressed before: BP is, at the very least, guilty of CRIMINAL negligence rooted in its callous pursuit of $$ and an operating mindset of DEPRAVED indifference for the health, safety and well-being of its oil rig workers AND local Gulf communities/residents…to say nothing of the catastrophic impact on environmental and ecological systems. But FOR ME the bigger story in this disaster is that it demonstrates YET AGAIN how “WE The People” are so easily PLAYED by the U.S. government which (among OTHER egregious failings) has been complicit, FOR DECADES, in allowing _NOT JUST BP_but “BIG business” in general, to write their own bullsh*t operating rules and regulations. Government officials, politicians, former politicians now tuned lobbyists IN BED with “Big Business,” getting PAID pennies on the dollar, like a $2 crack-head prostitute, by corporations driven to make, and pursue, MORE $$$ by ANY means necessary with literally NO government interference or oversight. Pick a company_any company_with a “problematic’ history of REPEATED safety violations and smaller (LESS visible) catastrophes. BP, Massa Mining, etc. The “government” knows full well about the troubling histories of those companies and yet, in most cases, the so-called “penalty” amounts to A JOKE. Absent the REAL threat of execs being sent to JAIL it’s back to business as usual. PREDICTABLY, a man-made Catastrophe so large that it can’t be ignored or swept under the rug away from PUBLIC view (and condemnation) happens and all H*ll breaks loose! Then, and ONLY THEN, does the government step in and give THE APPEARANCE that it’s on top of things.” Bowing to public pressure to “DO SOMETHING!” promises are made left and right. The crisis recedes. The majority of public fury dies down in very little time (due to Our collective short attention span and the media’s need to move on to the next “big” story) _it’s back to “business as usual” for all of the “partners in CRIME.” Will the Obama administration seriously begin to break down Corrupt patterns and alliances??? We shall see.But frankly: With the exception of my Conditional trust in the President, I’ve reached the point where I don’t trust my government (the men and women on Capitol Hill) AT ALL right now.