Good news and bad news: "BP suspended from new US gov't contracts"

[No Elephants]

The good news is that BP is finally suspended. The bad news is that BP is finally suspended, when it should have been banned and long ago.

Nov 28, 11:48 AM EST

BP suspended from new US gov't contracts

By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration put a temporary stop to new federal contracts with British oil company BP on Wednesday, citing the company's "lack of business integrity" and criminal proceedings stemming from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010.

The action by the Environmental Protection Administration bars BP and its affiliates from new government contracts for an indefinite period, but won't affect existing contracts.

In a further blow to the company, BP will be disqualified from winning new leases to drill for oil or gas on taxpayer-owned land until the suspension is lifted. The federal government planned a sale Wednesday of more than 20 million acres of offshore land in the Gulf of Mexico. BP won't be eligible for that sale, the Interior Department said. An EPA official said BP was not informed about the suspension until Wednesday morning.

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"EPA is taking this action due to BP's lack of business integrity as demonstrated by the company's conduct with regard to the Deepwater Horizon blowout, explosion, oil spill, and response," the agency said in a statement.

BP announced earlier in November that it will plead guilty to manslaughter, obstruction of Congress and other charges and will pay a record $4.5 billion in penalties to resolve a Justice Department investigation of the disaster. Attorneys and a federal judge will meet in December to discuss a plea date.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GULF_OIL_SPILL_BP_SUSPENSION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-11-28-11-48-53

It's pleading guilty to manslaughter and criminal negligence and the suspension is only temporary and does not affect contracts already granted?

If your bookkeeper pleads guilty to stealing from you, do you suspend him or her temporarily?

Not to mention: is there no American company that can get our military contracts, ffs?