Consumer Law

The BP Oil Catastrophe and Who Will Pay: In Their Own Words Because We?re Speechless

By Joe Consumer

The breathtaking scope of the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf has not only taken our breath away, it has left us speechless today.  So we?ll let others speak for us.  Here are a few choice quotes:

• ?This isn't going to cripple us, it's going to totally kill us for at least this year and -- what's even scarier -- maybe for several years to come.  How are we going to pay our bills? Where do we get the money for the mortgage? How do we pay the utilities to keep the lights on?  What the hell do we do to survive now that all of a sudden none of us can fish?  Katrina put us out of business for three months, but what do we do if we're out of business for a year or more?  I know how to rebuild and keep going after hurricanes. I don't know how to deal with this. I'd rather face another Katrina.? Robert Campo, of Campo's Shell Beach Marina, Louisiana.

• "It's going to put me out of business.  This is the start of our busiest time of the year. We just came through the worst winter anyone can remember where we struggled to get by, planning to make our living in the months ahead, and now this? This changes everything as we know it. I don't have a clue how I'll make a living.? Glenn Sanchez of Breton Sound Marina in Hopedale, Louisiana.

• ?There are big losses already.  The condo owners are having cancellations right and left over concerns about fouled beaches. It?s going to be a tremendous disaster if it comes ashore.? Robert Cunningham, Mobile, Alabama, lawyer representing victims.
  

• ?BP may be as endangered as the brown pelican. This litigation will dwarf other corporate catastrophes.? Houston-based attorney Tommy Fibich. (Three dozen class-action suits have already been filed on behalf of commercial fishermen, shrimpers, charter-boat operators, beachfront-property owners and many others whose livelihood has been imperiled; suits by state Attorneys General are also being considered.)

•  ?Under the Oil Pollution Act, the fact that it was BP?s oil is enough.  Plaintiffs don?t have to show they were negligent or grossly negligent.? Keith Hall, New Orleans attorney not involved in the litigation.

• "We are taking full responsibility for the spill and we will clean it up, and where people can present legitimate claims for damages we will honor them. We are going to be very, very aggressive in all of that.? BP Chief Tony Hayward.

• "I don't think anybody foresaw the circumstance that we're faced with now.  The blowout preventer was the main line of defense against this type of incident, and it failed." BP spokesperson Steve Rinehart.

• I believe we've got a failed piece of equipment. Lamar McKay, chairman and president of BP America.

• ?BP didn?t want to spend the money for a failsafe [acoustic switch] system.  Dick Cheney?s program allowed BP to bypass this safety switch [which is used throughout the world].  It?s the most unreported part of the story out there.? Attorney Mike Papantonio, attorney for Gulf Coast victims.  See him and the awesome Walter Hang on MSNBC?s The Ed Show video below. 

Full post as published by ThePopTort on May 03, 2010 (boomark / email).