BP’s name being dragged ‘literally through the muck.’

Back on May 6, I discussed how dispersants do not solve the Gulf Coast’s oil problem (see “Out of Sight: BP’s dispersants are toxic “” but not as toxic as dispersed oil“).  They do decrease the amount of oil that directly reaches the shores or the creatures that live on the shores or sea surface. But they increase the exposure to oil by creatures that live in the water or on the sea floor “” like, say, shrimp or oysters.

Now, finally, we have some must-see video of the hidden underwater “nightmare” BP has created, from Good Morning America, which had the help of “Philippe Cousteau and a team of specially-trained divers”:

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The Obama administration is considering whether to bar oil disaster giant BP from federal contracts. Because of BP’s record of criminal misconduct and environmental disasters, the Environmental Protection Agency has been weighing whether to impose discretionary debarment, which would prohibit BP from drilling on federal land and waters and from government fuel contracts, ProPublica’s Abrahm Lustgarten reports:

Days ago, in an unannounced move, the EPA suspended negotiations with the petroleum giant over whether it would be barred from federal contracts because of the environmental crimes it committed before the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Officials said they are putting the talks on hold until they learn more about the British company’s responsibility for the plume of oil that is spreading across the Gulf. The EPA said in a statement that, according to its regulations, it can consider banning BP from future contracts after weighing “the frequency and pattern of the incidents, corporate attitude both before and after the incidents, changes in policies, procedures, and practices.”

CREDO Action has begun a campaign to call on EPA to “use the regulatory tools at its disposal to make BP pay“:

If BP is hit with discretionary debarment, the company would lose valuable contracts for selling fuel to the military and would be prohibited from obtaining or renewing drilling leases on federal land. EPA could also cancel BP’s current federal leases. The impact on BP’s bottom line could be in the billions of dollars. Neither Congress, nor President Obama, nor Interior Secretary Salazar have taken steps to truly hold BP accountable. It’s up to EPA to use the regulatory tools at its disposal to make BP pay.

Debarment would be a major move by the Obama administration to punish this foreign oil giant for destroying the Gulf of Mexico. BP’s 22,000 oil and natural gas wells, many in federal lands and waters, produce 39 percent of its revenue each year — $16 billion. BP’s federal fuel contracts have been “worth roughly $4.6 billion over the last decade.”

During that period of record profits, BP is also responsible for:

— A felony conviction for illegally dumping hazardous waste down a well hole to cut costs in October 2000

– A felony conviction for an explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery that killed 15 workers on March 23, 2005

– A misdemeanor conviction for a pipeline break in Prudhoe Bay that produced the largest ever oil spill on Alaska’s North Slope (200,000 gallons) in March 2006

Our guest blogger is Josh Nelson, publisher of EnviroKnow.com.

Seizing on a recent NBC/WSJ poll (PDF) showing 60% of Americans continue to support offshore drilling, several journalists and pundits have implied that support for offshore drilling has not declined sharply in recent weeks. This is absolutely false.

Bill Schneider, National Journal:

Nor has the oil spill caused public support for offshore drilling to collapse.

Louise Radnofsky and Jean Spencer, The Wall Street Journal:

Public support for expanding the offshore hunt for energy is sturdy.

Jeffrey Birnbaum, The Washington Times:

Remarkably — at least so far — Americans are not running away from the need to find oil in the sea. According to recent polls, roughly two-thirds of those surveyed believe that offshore oil exploration is still a good idea. And that number has remained relatively steady even after weeks of massive leakage in the Gulf and the creation of an oil slick the size of Maryland.

Others, such as Politico’s Dianna Heitz, have sought to downplay the massive drop in support:

While the level of support has fallen, the drop-off has not been as sharp as some had expected, a finding attributed by experts to Americans’ overall concern about U.S. energy security.

Six major national polls released in recent weeks show that, in fact, support for offshore drilling has fallen off considerably in the wake of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:

And it isn’t just national polls that have shown a major decrease in support for offshore drilling. Several recent statewide polls have had similar findings:

– A Greensboro News-Record survey found that support dropped 14% in North Carolina between April 2010 and May 2010.

– A Rasmussen survey found that support dropped 11% in Florida between June 2008 and May 2010.

– A Public Policy Polling survey found that support dropped 14% (PDF) in North Carolina between April 2010 and May 2010.

– A Rasmussen survey found that support dropped 10% in California between April 2010 and May 2010.

– A Mason-Dixon survey found that support dropped 20% in Florida between June 2009 and May 2010. (H/T Think Progress)

– A Rasmussen survey found that support dropped 12% in Texas between April 2010 and May 2010.

The decline in support for offshore drilling is unequivocal. Pundits and journalists who claim otherwise should be held to account.

The AP drops this bombshell today about the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster:

… the leader of botched containment efforts  in the critical hours after the tanker ran aground wasn’t Exxon Mobil Corp. It was BP PLC, the same firm now fighting to plug the Gulf leak.

Pretty scary, when you consider that BP’s undersea volcano of oil is spewing some 2 Exxon Valdezes a week or more.  That said, it bears repeating what 20-year veteran of the Coast Guard Dr. Robert Brulle has written:  “With a spill of this magnitude and complexity, there is no such thing as an effective response.”

Here’s more from AP:

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Semiconductor Manufacturing Technique Holds Promise for Solar Energy

Thanks to a new semiconductor manufacturing method pioneered at the University of Illinois, the future of solar energy just got brighter.

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Center for Responsive Politics: “The $71,051 that Obama received during the 2008 election cycle was entirely from BP employees” and constituted under 0.01% of his total contributions

Weeks after BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Politico reported that during the last 20 years, the company and its employees gave more money to President Obama than any other federal political candidate.

On Fox News Sunday, Sarah Palin tried to make it into a wider narrative. “I don’t know why the question isn’t asked by the mainstream media and by others if there’s any connection with the contributions made to President Obama and his administration and the support by the oil companies to the administration,” she said.  Think Progress has the story on this inane charge in this repost (which is followed by a Media Matters excerpt).

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A new WWF report has come out further emphasizing the great need for the US to do more to seize its fair share of the growing multi-trillion dollar clean energy export market. This repost by Lynn Englum from WWF’s blog gives an overview.

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