By now the entire world knows about the devastating oil spill that began April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico.
The magnitude and, more importantly, the potential magnitude, of what is happening there would be difficult to overstate. However, some people may not be aware of the amazing series of coincidences that happened prior to and after the spill. Let me give you just a few examples:
1. It has been widely reported that the Deepwater Horizon exploded because Halliburton, a company once headed by Dick Cheney, did not properly cap, or cement, the well. Just eight days before the spill on April 12, 2010, Halliburton closed a deal to purchase Boots & Coots, the world’s largest oil spill cleanup organization, for $240.2 million. Now that is one lucky company.
2. The spill sent BP’s stock shares plummeting toward the bottom. But just before that happened, Goldman Sachs, despite giving BP a buy rating for Goldman clients, sold more than 40 percent of its BP shares for between $250 and $300 million.
BP’s former chairman, Peter Sutherland, is now chairman of Goldman Sachs International. In addition, Mr. Sutherland sits on the Trilateral Commission, is a former Chairman of the London School of Economics, is a UN Special Representative, was the founding director general of the World Trade Organization, and was previously director general of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
3. A few weeks before the disaster, Tony Hayward, the Chief Executive of BP, sold one third of his personal BP stock and used the money to pay off the mortgage on his mansion in Kent.
What an absolutely fantastic run of luck these folks had. That is simply amazing!
President Obama Being Briefed on Oil Spill
For three weeks after the spill, President Obama refused to do anything while millions of gallons of oil and toxic gases poured into the Gulf. The White House at first approved the use of the toxic dispersal agent Corexit, then, under pressure, ordered BP to stop using it. BP refused to do so and it is being sprayed by the millions of pounds from U.S. Air Force planes today.
For 70 days, President Obama refused all offers of international aid. The Dutch, a maritime people with the largest cleanup capacity in the world, offered the use of their ships and strategy without cost, but were refused. The Russians have experienced five major blowout spills and offered their help and expertise, but were refused.
What conclusions can we draw from all this? As we’ve seen, some corporations are very lucky. The military and private security have been used to suppress news of the magnitude of the damage. People have been arrested for taking pictures of the beaches. The president is using the spill for political purposes and so are Congressional Republicans.
Was this spill deliberately caused? I don’t know. I’m not a scientist. But in the comments to my letter to Governor Jindal about the spill, it was suggested that I join the Green Party, and that I am comparable to Hugo Chavez.
My answers to those comments are that I would be a lot more comfortable in the Green Party than the Democrat or Republican Parties, and I would rather be compared to Hugo Chavez than one of the heartless, merciless corporations that we’ve been discussing.
Until next time, thanks for reading,
Darrell L. Castle
