details on what is to be forthcoming as yet. A White House spokesman
told the Times an “escrow” account would be required to insure that BP
met all of its obligations.
“The
president will use his legal authority to compel them." Robert
Gibbs, White House spokesman.
This is the kiss of death for the dividend. This may mean that BP’s US
assets are encumbered in some way. Should it work out that there is a
form of conservatorship in the works it would be without precedent.
Like everyone else I am freaking out over the Gulf BP spill. The short
and long term environmental impacts are frightening. The consequences to
the country’s energy base are also frightening. While I am not
concerned with the fate of BP or its dividend, this too is going to have
a horrendous cost. It is clear that the gutting of this company is
going to have far reaching impacts to investors and pensioners.
It looks like the Coast Guard is going to take over operations this
week. That will be the beginning of the “big blank check
“for BP.
A curious announcement comes this weekend from Dredging
News. This site has had several articles bringing attention to the
fact that foreign flag oil cleanup resources are not being employed in
the Gulf. They blame it on the Jones Act.
Flanders
Today reports that Belgian dredging companies DEME and Jan De Nul are
"struggling to understand" why BP and the US authorities have not called
on them in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico.The
companies say that the fact that the Americans have not accepted their
proposed assistance is down to two reasons - that the US authorities are
reluctant to admit that somebody else has better equipment and the
protection of the American market through the protectionist 1920 Jones
Act, prohibiting foreign dredging companies from operating in US waters.
The Jones Act (1920) protects union jobs in the US. It was waved after
Katrina. It looks like it is going to waived again soon. From the same
source: (Dredging News. Go figure?)
“The
American maritime industry (MCTF) has not and will not stand in the way
of the use of these well-established waiver procedures to address this
crisis."
I read this statement as being a public acceptance (in advance) that
foreign vessels will soon be in the Gulf. A welcome development should
it happen. One has to ask why the suspension of the Jones Act was not
done sooner. We can only hope that pressure from (or fear of) unions was
not part of the reason.
Thad Allen, the Coast Guard Admiral who seems to be running things, had
this to say regarding the Jones Act during a Q and A on Friday:
"If it
gets—if it gets to the point where there's a Jones Act required, we're
willing to do that, too. Nobody's come to me with a request for a Jones
Act waiver, but any skimming capability we can bring in, we're looking
for."
Nobody’s come to you Thad? What have you been waiting for? It's well
past the ‘point’.
We don’t know how much is leaking into the Gulf. Assume an estimate of
40,000 barrels a day. Hopefully it is smaller than that. The following
is a picture of the reservoir in Central Park NYC. The leak is pumping
crude into the Gulf sufficient to fill this lake every ten days. If you
run around it you know it's pretty big.
The amount of oil spilled in the last 55 days is equal to about 8 hours
of average US consumption. It is equal to .06% of our annual usage. We simply use too much. How
quickly can we change this? A generation if we’re lucky.
heh. the reason we are so car dependent is...FTM. Follow the money.
Can they mandate intelligence? All they have capped so far is the truth.
LOL
O should get up there and say, "World peace is now mandated by me. Everyone follow the rules and hug the person to your right. Yes we can."
According to this it's over 1 million gallons a day.
BP is currently capturing about 630,000 gallons of oil a day, but hundreds thousands more are still escaping into the Gulf. The company has said that it could begin siphoning an additional 400,000 gallons a day starting Tuesday by burning it using a specialized boom being installed on a rig — and any new success would be welcome news for Obama as he returns to the Gulf.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100613/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill