Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Consumer Law Blogs -> ThePopTort

Consumer Law

: ThePopTort

Without a Spotlight, BP's Bad Behavior Will Likely Get Worse

By Alicia Young

How preposterous is it that BP is clamping down on what we do and don?t know about the disastrous oil spill they?ve caused in the Gulf?

The blogosphere is on fire about the CBS News clip that shows a CBS news team being turned back by a gang of contractors and Coast Guard workers. In the clip, the gang?s spokesperson announces that the news team can?t advance any further. Because BP says so.

Seriously??

Then, get this: the Coast Guard responded to the brouhaha by stating that it?s been allowing journalists to EMBED with authorities.

Embed ? as if the Gulf Coast is a war zone like Iraq or Afghanistan.  Is that what's going on here?  Why is the Coast Guard ostensibly complicit with this lack of transparency?

There are plenty who have done an excellent job responding to this question.

It?s particularly appalling to us because we know all too well how abusive corporations can be to the environment, the rights of their workers, and the sanctity of communities when the spotlight is NOT on them.

Just consider how resistant corporations and insurers are to pay legitimate claims when people are hurt . The resistance manifests itself in a range of absurd and tragic ways. For example, after Hurricane Katrina, we reported how residents could not get their insurance companies to return phone calls or send an agent to come and inspect the damage. Some agents required victims to provide paperwork that had been swept away by the storm.  And the companies fought just about everyone who had flood damage (for which insurers were not responsible), even though the hurricane's wind and rain contributed greatly to home destruction (for which they were responsible).

In this case, the spotlight wattage is on full blast on BP. And they?re still behaving badly. They hid how much oil was pumping out of well they drilled. They tried to downplay the harm from the toxic dispersants they were using, even putting money in the pockets of one of their buddy companies which produces the dispersant. (After mounting outrage, the EPA finally ordered BP to use a less toxic dispersant.) And even Transocean ? the company from whom BP leased the drilling rig-- sprinted to court seeking only to be held liable for the cost of its sunken ship.

So if BP is behaving this badly when all eyes are upon them, they are really going to be out of control once the media attention passes. As it stands, corporations and insurance companies are far less likely to do the right thing when the media spotlight is shining on them.  Once the cameras are gone, and the public hearings have ended, victims of environmental catastrophes are left to struggle on their own.

The bottom line is BP cannot be let off the hook and left to decide, at any point in the game, that they get to determine what the public does and doesn?t know.  If not, then those hurt most by this disaster will end up bearing the cost.

If you haven?t yet seen the clip from the CBS News crew getting turned back on BP?s orders via Coast Guard representatives, you can watch it here:

 

Full post as published by ThePopTort on May 21, 2010 (boomark / email).