# BP Boycott **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 10, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671 "2010-06-10T16:43:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/61 "2010-06-10T23:40:20Z")
> [@Happy\_Poster](#): > > What a ridiculous citation. > > Look at the **worldwide** situation. Try to demonstrate that as a company, BP has an inherently worse safety attitute. This is ludicrous. It doesn’t matter what the worldwide situation is. Maybe in the North Sea they’re the very paragons of conscientiousness. Maybe they frolic with the whales and give them names and Christmas presents and lovingly scrub the barnacles off their skin. It doesn’t fucking matter because HERE, in the Gulf, where their oil is leaking all over the goddamn place they’re _literally_ the absolute worst with regard to safety. HERE, they have taken negligence as far as it can possibly go before, say, you have an oil rig blow up, burn down, sink, and gush appallingly massive amounts of crude oil directly into the sea. Watch this [60 Minutes episode](http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6490509n&tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea.5). Read [this](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBUQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmotherjones.com%2Fblue-marble%2F2010%2F06%2Frigs-fire-i-told-you-was-gonna-happen&ei=n3QRTOL-K86FnQf52qWRAw&usg=AFQjCNEgf0JA-ynGaUxYOsf4k1uFjfrHbQ) fun article. > [@](#): > > …Jimmy Harrell, a top employee of rig owner Transocean, was speaking with someone in Houston via satellite phone. Buzbee told Mother Jones that, according to this witness account, Harrell was screaming, “Are you fucking happy? Are you fucking happy? The rig’s on fire! I told you this was gonna happen.” > > Whoever was on the other end of the line was apparently trying to calm Harrell down. “I am fucking calm,” he went on, according to Buzbee. “You realize the rig is burning?” That pleasant exchange likely stemmed from BP’s argument with Transocean described [here](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704717004575268302434395796.html). > [@](#): > > Mr. Brown said Transocean’s crew leaders—including the rig operator’s top manager, Jimmy W. Harrell—strongly objected to a decision by BP’s top representative, or “company man,” over how to start removing heavy drilling fluid and replacing it with lighter seawater from a riser pipe connected to the well head. This was an Accident in the same way that killing a car full of kids while drunk driving is an Accident. I’m not even sure why you’re harping on WORLDWIDE safety. It makes no difference in this case. Sure, take it worldwide, Shell could probably give them a damn fine run for their money with what they’ve done to the Niger delta. Exxon can eat a sack of dicks for the way they handled the Valdez spill. I’m sure they all suck in their own shitty way. That doesn’t in any way exonerate BPs gross negligence in this matter. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/62 "2010-06-10T23:41:59Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > If Shell or Hess or Exxon or anyone else did this we’d be just as pissed off and they’d probably be boycotted. It’s easier to boycott BP than Halliburton or other players, since their name is on retail products. I would hope this to be true, but it’s not hard to detect the whiff of xenophobia. What’s the betting that were it Shell who was in BP’s position that the boards and airwaves would be awash with commentary that the company is actually called Royal Dutch Shell plc? Were it Total then might there not be comments about “oil spilling surrender monkeys” getting a run? Just as posters including **gonzomax** use the dodge that as Halliburton is headquartered in Dubai, it’s not an American company. Nor is Transocean as they are headquartered in the Caymans. Logs in eyes and glass jaws. ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/63 "2010-06-10T23:44:30Z")
BP cut corners and they are surely regretting it now but it does seem that the .gov is railing at them more than is necessary. Does anyone here think that BP isn’t doing everything in their power now to mitigate this situation? It is in their best interest to limit the damage as quickly as possible. Stupid comments like we have “our boot on their neck” doesn’t help the situation and just makes me think the the government is trying to deflect attention from the regulatory agencies that have also screwed the pooch. As for the boycott, if it makes you feel better about yourself then go for it. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/64 "2010-06-10T23:51:34Z")
_USA finds out that oil extraction has consequences_ This time it’s happened where voters are! I mean fuck…some of the people effected are white! Or Christian! ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/65 "2010-06-10T23:52:04Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > I would hope this to be true, but it’s not hard to detect the whiff of xenophobia. > > What’s the betting that were it Shell who was in BP’s position that the boards and airwaves would be awash with commentary that the company is actually called Royal Dutch Shell plc? Were it Total then might there not be comments about “oil spilling surrender monkeys” getting a run? > > Just as posters including **gonzomax** use the dodge that as Halliburton is headquartered in Dubai, it’s not an American company. Nor is Transocean as they are headquartered in the Caymans. > > Logs in eyes and glass jaws. Oh come on, any xenophobia is either imagined or cherry picked. The people on the rig were mostly American workers. I’d bet the jerk that told them to pump seawater into the well instead of mud was American as well. The number of people stupid enough to hold this against Britain are insignificant. The vast vast majority blame BP, the corporation, not because they have (had) the word British in their name but _because they were the ones in charge and it was their responsibility to ensure safe operations._ ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/66 "2010-06-10T23:54:45Z")
> [@gravitycrash](#): > > BP cut corners and they are surely regretting it now but it does seem that the .gov is railing at them more than is necessary. Does anyone here think that BP isn’t doing everything in their power now to mitigate this situation? It is in their best interest to limit the damage as quickly as possible. > > Stupid comments like we have “our boot on their neck” doesn’t help the situation and just makes me think the the government is trying to deflect attention from the regulatory agencies that have also screwed the pooch. > > As for the boycott, if it makes you feel better about yourself then go for it. It appears to be one hell of a productive well. I have had the feeling that BP will do anything that does not destroy the well to stop it from billowing oil. MMS has been exposed as a tool of industry. They have not been spared at all. The head was fired and I assure you a huge shakeup is in store for them. ---
**Author:** ![LonghornDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/67 "2010-06-10T23:56:48Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > A bunch of people shorting BP stock would probably put the hurt where it belongs; but of course this is risky. Seems ridiculously risky to short a stock that has already lost 45% of its value and will likely not pay anywhere close to what they have lost in market cap. They could have a fine three times bigger than the biggest in history plus pay all cleanup costs and still not come close to the market cap that they have lost (~$84 billion). ---
**Author:** ![LonghornDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/68 "2010-06-11T00:04:02Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > It appears to be one hell of a productive well. I have had the feeling that BP will do anything that does not destroy the well to stop it from billowing oil. And this is an absolutely absurd feeling. BP loses more money in a week dealing with this spill than they would earn in a year from producing the well. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/69 "2010-06-11T00:10:11Z")
> [@Happy\_Poster](#): > > This idealism would mean there would never be train crashes, never plane crashes, never car crashes, never accidental firearm discharge, never building damages, never food poisoning etc etc etc etc etc etc > > **Accidents happen** So… when _you_ drive somewhere, you don’t have any control over what happens? No way to influence the likelihood you will smash into someone at the crossing? Accidents just… “happen.” Nothing to be done? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/70 "2010-06-11T00:12:12Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > OTOH, House Minority Leader John Boehner, does appear to be[pushing for a taxpayer bailout of BP](http://www.examiner.com/x-5738-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m6d10-House-Minority-Leader-John-Boehner-ROH-endorses-taxpayer-bailout-for-BP), even though it’s a foreign corporation. > I think that’s going a bit too far in the direction _opposite_ a BP boycott. Confucius say: Never trust link without quote. Your link does not support that statement. In fact, if you follow the links to the links to the full story, we find that the exact opposite is true: > [@](#): > > House Minority Leader John Boehner fully broke ranks with the Chamber of Commerce today by accepting that under no circumstances should taxpayers be on the hook for any clean up costs or damages resulting from the Gulf oil spill. > > “No taxpayer money for cleanup or damages – period. BP pays,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel tells the Washington Post. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/71 "2010-06-11T00:23:31Z")
> [@Terraplane](#): > > Oh come on, any xenophobia is either imagined or cherry picked. May well be true in this case, but there’s plenty of form in the not too distant past. > [@](#): > > The people on the rig were mostly American workers. That is true, and a tragedy regardless of nationalities. > [@](#): > > I’d bet the jerk that told them to pump seawater into the well instead of mud was American as well. That may well be true as well. > [@](#): > > The number of people stupid enough to hold this against Britain are insignificant. Britain, \*per se \*, I would agree. That this is a “foreign company”, I’m a lot less sure. We have just seen a pile-on up thread on a single poster who had the audacity to put BP within the context of global oil. Even copped a moderator hat for their pains. I thought it was verging on bullying so I put in my 2c. Personally I have no dog in the fight. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/72 "2010-06-11T00:52:00Z")
> [@LonghornDave](#): > > And this is an absolutely absurd feeling. BP loses more money in a week dealing with this spill than they would earn in a year from producing the well. Not true. Besides you don’t see the point. They are doing everything they can short of permanently killing the well. When it is all over, they still want to pump more oil. It is a huge well worth incredible amounts of money. ---
**Author:** ![LonghornDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/73 "2010-06-11T01:04:59Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Not true. Besides you don’t see the point. They are doing everything they can short of permanently killing the well. When it is all over, they still want to pump more oil. It is a huge well worth incredible amounts of money. No, you don’t see the point. They are permanently killing the well. What do you think the two relief wells are for? They will permanently kill this well. BP announced they would drill the relief well two days after the explosion; there has never been any thought that they would somehow be able to salvage the well. There is no chance that this well will ever be completed, absolutely zero chance. They, or someone else, could potentially drill another well to target the same reserves, but this well will never be a producer. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/74 "2010-06-11T01:14:30Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > May well be true in this case, but there’s plenty of form in the not too distant past. Maybe so, but we aren’t talking about the not too distant past. We’re talking about something current. > [@](#): > > We have just seen a pile-on up thread on a single poster who had the audacity to put BP within the context of global oil. Even copped a moderator hat for their pains. I thought it was verging on bullying so I put in my 2c. Personally I have no dog in the fight. Who disputed that BP was a global oil company? I’ll answer that, _nobody_. Not one person insinuated that BP is anything other than an international corporation. The pile on occurred because he was insisting… > [@Happy\_Poster](#): > > But you can’t expect these disasters never to happen. They just do. “Negligence and greed” is just over-emotive crap. …when this is so obviously a case of gross negligence that to assert otherwise is simply incredible. This poster was also the _only poster in the entire thread_ to insinuate that BP is in any way a British entity. > [@](#): > > At absolute best you can seize all its US assets while it tells you lot to fuck off and stops doing all the good it’s doing at the moment, which is waaaaaaay above the legal minimum. **Assuming Cameron has the sense to stick up for British interests, anyway.** Bolding mine. As well as the first person to introduce the idea that we should be angry with these corporations based on their perceived nationality. > [@](#): > > Go get furious at the American contractors, such as Haliburton, whose fault it was. > > … > > American companies have shit all over this planet on a scale that no one can even slightly live up to. He’s the one trying to attach corporations to specific nationalities, not us. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/75 "2010-06-11T01:15:44Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Confucius say: Never trust link without quote. > > Your link does not support that statement. In fact, if you follow the links to the links to the full story, we find that the exact opposite is true: Nah, Boehner only flip flopped and had one of his minions walk him away from the chamber of commerce’s bailout plan, _after_ Democrats called him on it. It took all day to happen. [Here’s a summary](http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/boehner-on-who-must-pay-what-for-spill/)of the day’s events at the NYT. Looks to me like Boehner went along with the US Chamber of Commerce’s position without thinking, and only later came to realize how extreme that position was, well, at least how poorly that position would play with us taxpayers. [Chamber President Says His Group Will Find Way to Get Government to Share Cost of Gulf Coast Clean-Up](http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/05/chamber-president-says-his-group-will-find-way-to-get-government-to-share-cost-of-gulf-coast-cleanup.html) ---
**Author:** ![LonghornDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/76 "2010-06-11T01:56:31Z")
> [@Terraplane](#): > > …when this is so obviously a case of gross negligence that to assert otherwise is simply incredible. I guess I’ll go ahead and be on the other side of this and say it is not obviously a case of gross negligence. It is certainly possible that it is gross negligence. It is much more likely it is a case of negligence. I believe there is a pretty high bar set for someone to be guilty of gross negligence. We don’t yet have the full facts on hand with the investigation of what caused this being incomplete. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/77 "2010-06-11T02:11:04Z")
If it is mere negligence, not sinking to gross negligence, then we can reasonably expect a recurrence, no? If this were gross negligence, we could at least be assured that it required a very extreme set of fuckups to produce this catastrophic circumstance. Meaning that with the level of responsibility and concern that we expect as a minimum from day care workers and bus drivers, it might well never happen again. But if its simple, plain-old, down-home negligence? Well, if a guy neglects to rotate his tires every thousand miles, I’m still ok with him having a driver’s license. But if he runs down a little old lady, chugging vodka and texting to his facebook page while doing 85 in a 20 zone? Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/78 "2010-06-11T02:13:28Z")
> [@LonghornDave](#): > > And this is an absolutely absurd feeling. BP loses more money in a week dealing with this spill than they would earn in a year from producing the well. Some oil experts last night said the well could spew for 20 years., if it can’t be stopped. That would seem to be a lot of oil to me. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/79 "2010-06-11T02:19:22Z")
Were you joking about Halliburton not being an American company, **gonzomax**? Halliburton was founded in Oklahoma in 1919. Its headquarters officially moved to Dubai in 2007 but before that it was based in Houston, and it’s not like they pulled up stakes and left Texas. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671/80 "2010-06-11T02:55:29Z")
> [@Terraplane](#): > > This poster was also the _only poster in the entire thread_ to insinuate that BP is in any way a British entity. And there was I thinking that in post #53 from Marley23 said: > [@](#): > > I was saying the name BP clearly comes from the old name, and British Petroleum is likely the name most people here are familiar with I’m not sure whether you’d call that “insinuation”. Personally I would have thought that was a direct statement from somebody who’s both cluey and usually pretty careful with how they chose their words. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bp-boycott/542671.md?page=5)