$4300 per barrel

[scheming daemons]

That's the amount of fines that BP will pay.


You want to know why BP is burning off the oil they're collecting instead of putting it into large tankers?


Because then we could get a more accurate accounting of how much has spilled.



They've done everything in their power at every step to limit their financial liability.

A) Lowballing the estimates. They realize that later estimates will be higher. But any confusion they can create gives them a chance to get their fines reduced in court.

B) Applying dispersant at the source of the leak. Since the oil won't pool as much on the surface, estimating the size of the spill becomes more difficult. Again... any doubt they can generate as to the size of the spill can help them in court.

C) Not having enough tankers in place to collect the oil that is coming through the cap. If they had enough tankers to be able to handle 60,000 barrels per day, and those tankers were getting filled every day to capacity, then that would show the world an accurate number. By only having one tanker, all they are showing is that the amount is greater than 20,000 barrels per day. It could be 20,001 or it could be 200,001. Again... creating doubt for the courts.



Their actions are all about limiting their financial liability. At $4300 per barrel (barrels that are currently selling for about $70 in commodities trading) the fines alone could come to $100 billion dollars when all is said and done.


BP doesn't care how much sea life is destroyed by the dispersants. BP doesn't care about paying off the fishermen and tourism workers. That's chump change, even if BP pays out generous settlements to all.


BP cares about the $4300/barrel fine. That's about $100 million USD per day, if the 25,000 barrel estimate is true.

Or $1 billion every 10 days.

And that's at the small end. There's likely 50,000 barrels per day coming out. $1 billion in fines every 5 days. And it ain't stopping until August.

[aquart]

1. And if they don't pay, then what?

[Catherina]

7. That's the frightening part. They're busy hiding their assets

and we're giving them the time to do it.

[The Magistrate]

2. Very True, Sir

[PDJane]

3. It's long past time to

take away the legal fiction of corporate personhood.

[Trillo]

4. Fines go to the U.S. government.

What does this do for the local folks who've directly been harmed, such as fisherfolks who presumably have monthly bills to pay, or tribes whose culture and subsistence was based on fishing, now gone?

Under the clean water act, deliberately putting one drop of oil, or lets say quart, results in a minimum fine of $2500 according to wikipedia. How many quarts are in a barrel of oil? (a rhetorical question)

I guess BP gets a huge economy of scale, or discount, for being the biggest polluter yet. When do we give equivalent discounts to little people?

[druidity33]

5. K&R, nt.

[Statistical]

6. Where are you getting $100 billion from?

Assuming relief wells take 120 days (30 days past BP estimate).

$100 billion in fines would be 22.2 million barrels of oil.
That is roughly 200,000 barrels a day (on top of whatever is captured).

More likely 30,000 bpd * 100 days = 3 million barrels = $12.9 billion in fines.

Of course BP is now capturing roughly 15K bpd so that reduces the "gushed" amount by 50 days * 15K bpd = 750,000 barrels.

So 2.25 mil barrels = $9.675 billion in fines.

[flyarm]

8. They have been given every opportunity to cover up by this government!

there is much CYA going on ..by oh so many!!!!!!!!!!

We have to WIN you know..at all costs..its why dead dolphin and Manatees and Whales are top secret in hiding by our Feds and the military!! We don;t need tree huggers pissed off more than they are, don'tcha know!!:sarcasm: :sarcasm:

Water..we need water?? ahhh fuk no..there are important golf games to play............and private WH Concerts..and athletes to meet ..

We don't need no stinking water..or clean air to breath..we have important people to take care of at BP!!

Because we need to WIN...at all costs..winning is everything..or so I am told every day here at DU..........


Spill may stop 16 to 19 million gallons of drinking water daily for Tampa Bay residents

...Emergency planning sources in Florida have informed that the state faces severe fresh water shortages and power blackouts if the thick crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster clogs sea water intakes at the largest seawater desalinization plant in the United States - the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalinization Plant at Apollo Beach.

The plant, which uses seawater reverse osmosis to turn seawater into 16 to 19 million gallons of drinking water daily for residents of the Tampa Bay area, faces the threat of filtration membranes becoming clogged if oil from the Gulf of Mexico enters its intake pipes. Such an event would render the plant unable to process seawater, resulting in a major fresh water shortage for Tampa Bay.

Similarly, oil clogging the water cooling intakes at the Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant on the Gulf of Mexico coast, some 80 miles north of Tampa, could force the shutdown of the Unit 3 pressurized water nuclear reactor. Such an event would result in power shutdowns in the Florida areas served by the power plant.*

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=1...