Boycott BP

I'm boycotting BP. I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt right after the initial explosion, but the more I learned about their irresponsible actions, the more pissed off I got. BP won't notice my little boycott - I almost never buy their gas anyway - but I have to do my tiny part to encourage others to do the same. The only way to get their attention is to hit 'em in the wallet. Here's a listing of why I'm angry:

- In 2000, BP was fined $500,000 for failing to disclose that one of their contractors had been dumping hazardous waste down oil well shafts on the North Slope.

- In March, 2005, the Texas City oil refinery exploded, killing 15 and injuring 180. BP was fined twice for multiple violations related to that incident, once for $50M and then last year for $87M. The one last year resulted from 270 safety violations that had been identified in 2005 and still not fixed, plus 430 new ones.

- Lack of maintenance led to spillage of 5000 barrels of oil in Prudhoe Bay in 2006. In 2007, there was a spillage of 2000 gallons of a methanol/oil mixture at another of their Prudhoe Bay fields.

- The Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20th was a direct result of BP pushing their contractors to work faster and skimp on safety procedures. 60 Minutes had a double-length segment last night that clearly showed how BP over-rode Transocean's established procedures.

- Even worse, there is another BP oil platform in the Gulf that is evidently a disaster waiting to happen. 60 Minutes had a brief bit about it, saying it had no accurate or approved drawings, that operations cannot be safely accomplished without the drawings, and that it will soon be pumping huge amounts of oil from multiple wells. An engineer warned that a disaster there was not only likely, but would make the Deepwater Horizon look like a minor bubble.

- BP has been blaming everybody except themselves. Bullshit. It's BP's well, it's BP's fault, and it's BP's responsibility.

- The CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, is on record minimizing the environmental impact of the blowout, saying that the Gulf is a big body of water and the amount of oil covers only a very small part. This is disingenuous. Further, it appears that much, if not most, of the oil is remaining below the surface of the Gulf. Last night there was a report that there was a subsurface plume of oil that was 10 miles wide and 7 miles long.

I don't do boycotts very often. I've been boycotting Citgo for years, since Citgo is owned by the government of Venezuela, meaning it's propping up Hugo Chavez. But that's about it. This time, it's really serious. BP's arrogance and greed are generating an environmental disaster of epic proportions, with the possibility - no, the probability - of an even worse one at any time.

Boycott BP!