I’m sorry, but the statement that the entire company isn’t responsible is a problem. I don’t have the data in front of me, but a comparison of the number of fines for failure to follow necessary safety procedures, including repairing equipment that had failed or was about to fail indicates that the entire company has been infected for some time with a kind of negligent homicide virus. First, there is the attitude at the top that encourages risky negligent behavior and then there are the actors lower down who demand it, and finally the poor stiff at the bottom who do the bidding of those above. Some of these behaviors are only under the control of those above, some aren’t. When one starts talking about a company that is so totally infected with a set of attitudes that values profit over elementary safety, we are talking about a corporate citizen that cannot be trusted to continue to be involved in work where there are many risks. Is there anyone who realistically believes that BP should continue to drill in GOM? If you do, go find the reports on the BP pipeline in Alaska where they have been repeatedly fined for failing to maintain the most basic maintenance and this failure resulted in oils leaks. And when you finishe reading those reports, look at the other reports that compare BP’s operation with other major oil companies - you will find that they have been fined at rates approaching 100 time the rates of other companies (Exon/Mobile for instance).
Yes, it will be a sad day for many when BP is shut down. But most of the people who are employed worldwide will continue to work - the assets of the company will not disappear. The reality is that this corporation needs to have its head cut off, that’s the only way that the lower units can continue to function. The attitudes of the company hierachery have been detailed in many articles and demonstrated by the data of their actual practices (anyone can publish excellent “best practices” just as they have, but who cares if they don’t dollow them from the top down?). Ahh well, enough I’m learning about oil well drilling. What I know about already is human behavior and I would say that BP must not survive