Company Town

The photographer, Lance Rosenfield, said that shortly after arriving in town, he was confronted by a BP security officer, local police and a man who identified himself as an agent of the Department of Homeland Security. He was released after the police reviewed the pictures he had taken on Friday and recorded his date of birth, Social Security number and other personal information. The police officer then turned that information over to the BP security guard under what he said was standard procedure

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July 4, 2010 | RickB | Tags: , | 9 Comments »

9 Responses to “Company Town”

  1. JP says:
    July 4, 2010 at 15:59

    There are also reports of BP security actually riding with police and local Sheriff’s in their vehicles and restricting access to areas affected by the oil. I found BP’s logic of “it’s our oil” expressed by them to be stretching the point a bit as their stance trumps individual states and federal laws regarding ownership and stewardship of the land. It is like claiming, “If our oil touches your land, the land and the people inhabiting the land come under our control.” If that made sense, then Iceland would own most of Europe, or at least those parts where their volcanic ash fell. Iceland was smart enough not to want it!

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  2. libhomo says:
    July 4, 2010 at 19:29

    This is an example of how letting corporations get too big makes them too powerful. British Petroleum should lose its corporate charter and the rest of the Big Oil companies should be broken up into tiny pieces.

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  3. Jotman says:
    July 7, 2010 at 01:55

    These incidents remind us that the real story is the government’s response to the spill, not BP and its predictable schemes. Predictable because BP is a publicly traded company, and as such management has a legal obligation to maximize returns on behalf of the shareholders.

    By leaving BP in charge (without first changing the ownership structure and charter of the company, i.e. putting the company into receivership), the Obama Administration insured that the recovery effort would be half-baked — the fiasco that it is turning out to be.

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  4. RickB says:
    July 7, 2010 at 10:26

    Maybe what is startling about this is it very messily and graphically demonstrates the government does not work for the people, but for the corporations, it’s one thing knowing this but another to see it so horrifically in action. The criminals responsible have been left in charge and been defended against citizen’s outrage meanwhile the eruption continues and I doubt the best efforts of human ingenuity are being applied to solve it because they are prioritising share price, perception, CYA. This needs a Manhattan project like (but minus the national secrecy) global effort of the best minds, oddly oceans don’t actually respect national borders (a bit like corporations tax avoidance departments).

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  5. Jotman says:
    July 8, 2010 at 09:51

    Maybe what is startling about this is it very messily and graphically demonstrates the government does not work for the people, but for the corporations, it’s one thing knowing this but another to see it so horrifically in action.

    Yes, I think so. I just hope this terribly expensive civics lesson doesn’t go to waste. Key to seeing how it happened is recognizing that the Obama Administration conspired with BP to create the conditions that led to the disaster. I wonder if there might soon be an opening for a challenger for the Democratic nomination for 2012 or an independent. Obama = Johnson? Only on top of a failed war effort, Obama may also be held to account for a failing economy, and a failing Gulf of Mexico.

    oceans don’t actually respect national borders…

    I think the “oceans” should be able to go to court. I think not only BP but United States political leaders should be brought before an international court of justice. After all, government agencies failed to implement basic environmental safeguards, failed to get an environmental assessment, failed to properly mandate safeguards in place in the event of a catastrophe, failed to require an adequate disaster plan.

    This isn’t only about a company hurting the US and Americans. It’s about damage done to the oceans, which belong to all countries and all peoples.

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  6. RickB says:
    July 8, 2010 at 19:32

    Well as the US do not recognise such jurisdiction and campaigned against the ICC, I think global responsibility is a long way off for the powerful, just as in the climate talks, shared thinking is anathema to corporations and their familiars in govt. which does become a serious threat to our future.

    I think Obama will make another term, the revulsion at the GOP will keep the two party shuffle going, however bad he is somehow the repubs find ways to be worse! But the Johnson parallel is good, although the domestic climate has changed and counter cultural forces have been defeated in the Dem establishment and the corporate media keep the terms of debate so narrow and to the right I don’t see a challenger from any more liberal angel being given a chance. Plus the weird lobby scared politics means even people like Grayson are hawks, Progressive Except for Palestine, but as that is key to many foreign policy issues it pollutes the whole platform. Maybe if BP collapses something might come of this, might take a while yet but a few billion law suits later, the money Abu Dhabi might not want to get into that mess.

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