Report begins: "In what could be a new low at BP, the company said it may not be able to pay for the damages from the Deepwater Horizon if Congress prohibits it from drilling offshore."

Crab-trap builder Shawn Platt's traps idle, Hopedale, Louisiana, 05/13/10. (photo: Getty Images)

BP Threatens to Cut Aid to Spill Victims If Not Allowed to Drill

By Joel Schectman, Newsweek

04 September 10

n what could be a new low at BP, the company said it may not be able to pay for the damages from the Deepwater Horizon if Congress prohibits it from drilling offshore. BP appears to be betting that the threat to renege on its cleanup and compensation promises will pressure Congress to allow the company to continue drilling in the gulf, despite having created the worst environmental catastrophe in history.

The House passed a bill in July that would prevent companies with more than 10 deaths at their facilities from getting permits to drill on the outer continental shelf. Only BP's record was poor enough to reach the threshold.

BP did not return calls for comment, but a spokesman told The New York Times: "I am not going to make a direct linkage to the $20 billion [compensation fund], but our ability to fund these assets and the cash coming from these assets that are securing these funds would be lost" if the House bill were enacted by the full Congress.

The oil giant's expectation that Congress will be cowed by the apparent intimidation tactic may be correct, as response from the Hill to the threat has so far been muted. "It's like Bonnie and Clyde saying we are not going to pay back the money we stole unless you let us keep robbing banks," Democratic Rep. George Miller of California, who added the language to the bill, told NEWSWEEK. "We need to be able to assure people in the gulf that the companies getting permits are safe. But this is absolutely a rogue company in how they ignore both safety and environmental regulations."

BP had $16.6 billion in profits in 2009.

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+10 # Guest 2010-09-04 20:34

Congress can not--and should not--cave in to such a threat by BP. If BP does not follow through on funding everything it is responsible for damaging, Congress should seek prosecution for those lives lost as a result of BP's negligence and violation of its own safety rules.

+3 # Guest 2010-09-05 10:04

When have you known our government to not cave in to big oil? Big business? BIG crooks? Don't forget to keep consuming.

+13 # Guest 2010-09-04 20:58

So the thugs of BP are following their negligence, mayhem, death and contamination with blackmail? And we have no leverage for prosecution for these crimes? Bonnie and Clyde were civilized by comparison. Congress cowed? And we're paying them? Oh, but of course, corporate moneys are their real largesse, the voters be damned.

+7 # Guest 2010-09-04 21:00

Check out Democracy Now's story earlier this week on this BP threat. Apparently our government's deal with BP for compensation was made with the Gulf subsidiary of BP, only a small part of BP, which is one of the world's largest companies. Now BP can claim that if this tiny subsidiary goes broke, due to moratoria on drilling, the larger company doesn't have to honor the agreement. Looks like someone was asleep at the wheel?????

+12 # angelfish 2010-09-04 21:54

These creeps should be driven out of the Oil Industry. They are bullies and economic rapists who have no regard for the people they kill, maim and put put of business. The United States Government should prosecute them to the fullest extent of the Law and fine them into oblivion and never allow them to EVER drill in the Gulf again!

+7 # Texas Aggie 2010-09-04 22:36

So sell the refinery in Texas City to someone who will do an honest job of running it. That will be enough to pay your bills. And while you're at it, sell the pipeline in Alaska that you've neglected to maintain.

+8 # Guest 2010-09-04 22:38

And I predict this is only the first of what will be many attempts to get out of paying what they owe--plus I'm betting our government will cooperate with them in most of these schemes although the cases will be in delay long enough for the public to lose interest in them. Greed rules!

+5 # Gurka 2010-09-04 23:07

Following the sad story of BP changing the ocean as we know it, I thought it could not get meaner. But then came their dawdling in stopping the leak, and now this! Conclusion: BP's true face is a bottomless pit of evil. They own the US and they know it. There is no end to their demands, and most American politicians are their hostages. There will be no change in this downward spiral before society can loosen the grip of BP and the other oil giants. And there is only ONE way of doing that: by supporting and encouraging and protecting the creation of new technology that is much, much less dependent on oil. There is little time left, and if We the people do not start acting soon to change many of our "ways of life", it will not only be Good Bye to BP, but to all of us.

+6 # Guest 2010-09-05 01:46

Are oil companies too big to fail too? If so, like the banks.. I think we can let a few go broke, just like people are doing now, going broke because of some bull from banks, corporations and their front men and women, politicians... They don't give a damn about you. They don't care.. They own you! Sucks when some faceless and lifeless corporations run the world... It's a sin. ^i^

-20 # Guest 2010-09-05 03:27

The Congress--The Media--The Public reaction never cease to amaze. BP is a viable and a well run business that is more than willing to step up to the plate but why should they if all that awaits them is this kind of reaction and yes down right hate.

+8 # Timaloha 2010-09-05 04:24

Quoting

The Congress--The Media--The Public reaction never cease to amaze. BP is a viable and a well run business that is more than willing to step up to the plate but why should they if all that awaits them is this kind of reaction and yes down right hate.

How about because they CAUSED this disaster. When you kill people and devastate the lives of untold numbers of others while raping and polluting an entire eco-system, you might expect a little bit of an emotional reaction. Especially when you threaten to re-neg on making it right after promising to do so.

-10 # Guest 2010-09-05 07:21

It was an accident..

+3 # Guest 2010-09-05 15:04

No, it was negligent homicide!

+5 # Guest 2010-09-05 05:13

Joe......you are kidding. Right? Just playing devils advocate right?

+8 # Guest 2010-09-05 06:43

Put BP into bankruptcy and use their assets to pay the victims! Get rid of that evil and corrupt company for once and for all!

+3 # Guest 2010-09-05 15:00

Joe Kirby must be a paid supporter of that noxious company. "It was an accident" - certainly and one that could have been prevented with the proper safeguards which BP "couldn't afford to put in place". The height of their gall is unbelievable. Now we all need to reduce our dependence on oil by looking forward alternative sources of power. BP might suggest that, but their tin ear for public caring and diplomacy continues. How sad!!

+3 # Guest 2010-09-05 15:04

This should be applied to ALL contracts, not just by oil companies, but coal mining companies, military contractors, etc. Our government should not be dealing with murderers. We already do this to people (if you kill others, you are incarcerated or executed) and now the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations ARE people.

+2 # Guest 2010-09-06 06:13

if BP wants to blackmail the US which has made them money for years, then lets start talking about the corruption that involves BP and the very government agency who's job was to oversee oil companies so just this kind of horrible loss of hard working American lives and catastrophic environmental damage would not happen! its now time to start bringing up charges on a federal criminal level to show BP and the other oil companies that if you short-cut safety procedures,inti minate workers into silence,give expensive gifts to regulatory officials to overlook potentially dangerous acts, actions and risk lives for profit YOU WILL GO TO PRISION FOR A EXSTENDED PIRIOD OF TIME, because you the officials, corporate BP and government BP lackeys, ARE NOTHING MORE THAN ANY OTHER COMMON CRIMINAL, MABY YOUR FIRST DAY IN GENERAL POPULATION IN THE FED SHOULD BE TAPED AS A WARNING TO OTHERS THAT WE WONT ALLLOW OUR PEAPLE KILLD FOR SOME FORIN CORP. GREED!!!!!!!!!! GOD BLESS THE FAMILES OF THE FALLEN IOL WORKERS.

+1 # Guest 2010-09-07 12:34

The Obama administration must tell BP that they are not expected to pay the reparations out of future income;
they are to pay out of PAST PROFITS.

+1 # Guest 2010-09-09 16:15

Bloody Blackmail plain and simple.....
my take: The Craven Congress will cave.

I expect the worst of a "government" that gave Cheney/Bush the power to wreck this country morally and financially.

We are our own BP.

Live with it.

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