BP (and Halliburton and TransOcean) in their reluctance to take any responsibility for the horrific accident and subsequent spill in the Gulf have mutually agreed on one thing - that no bad deed will go punished. Its despicable to watch them hem and haw in the Congressional hearings, passing the same tattered buck back and forth between them. The bottom line is, it was BP's lease, TransOceans' rig and Halliburton's usual incompetence. All of them are to blame. None of them really seem to care outside of the oily blemish on their already faded credibility.
While we can't directly boycott Halliburton or TransOcean, we CAN and SHOULD boycott BP. I know that this isn't fair to their individual franchisees - they didn't choose to have this happen to their individually-owned stations, their Subway restaurants and Wild Bean cafes. However, the only way to send a message to BP as a consumer is not to patronize them. I urge all of my readers to fill-up at any other station - according to a great article in the NYT last Sunday on offshore drilling safety BP has the worst overall record so any of them are better. Ironically, Exxon-Mobile is now at the top of the safety list, primarily because of the lessons they learned from the Valdez disaster.
In addition, reach out to your Congressmen and Senators regarding holding BP's feet to the fire over this disaster and asking for more responsible regulation of the nation's oil and gas industry in the future. Demand that they address the ongoing gap in oil exploration subsidies and royalty reduction that was created when oil was bottomed-out under the Bush administration. Demand that they address the ongoing outright theft that takes place when mineral, oil and gas rights on Federal lands are given away to corporations under antiquated and unfair regulations.
For once, let's not allow yet another mega-corporation a 'free pass'. The Gulf and its residents, wildlife, wetlands and offshore ecosystem are going to be suffering for the gross incompetence of BP and their partners for many years to come. They should pay the price for all of it.
