Plano Injury Lawyer Blog

BP came to an agreement with the White House to provide 20 million dollars in escrow for the many forthcoming lawsuits it will face. The response from many Republicans, including Rush Limbaugh, ___ of Fox News, and now Texas Representative Joe Barton, was that this agreement amounts to nothing short of "Shakedown" by the White House, which used "Chicago-style tactics" to get BP to loosen their purse strings.

According to the Huffington Post, Republicans on the Hill have calculated that President Obama's successful demand that BP set up a $20 billion escrow account to pay out claims is ripe for political attack. In the wake of Wednesday's White House announcement, a host of GOP officials are raising questions about both the process by which the deal was made and the deal itself -- going so far as to apologize to BP on America's behalf.

Regrettably perhaps, Representative Barton told BP's CEO, Tony Hayward that he was "ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday," He also stated, " I think it is a tragedy in the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown -- in this case a $20 billion shakedown -- with the attorney general of the United States, who is legitimately conducting a criminal investigation and has every right to do so to protect the American people, participating in what amounts to a $20 billion slush fund that's unprecedented in our nation's history, which has no legal standing, which I think sets a terrible precedent for our nation's future."

Continue reading "BP Penalties Referred to as "Shakedown," With Apology " »

One month after crude started pouring into the Gulf, there is no end in sight--and it is estimated by BP that it could be until August before the spill is plugged. Of course, BP also vastly underestimated the amount of gallons that were polluting the Gulf from the onset.

AP has reported that "chocolate brown and vivid orange globs and sheets of foul-smelling oil the consistency of latex paint have begun coating the reeds and grasses of Louisiana's wetlands, home to rare birds, mammals and a rich variety of marine life."

BP was leasing the Deepwater Horizon rig from TransOcean, when it exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the massive spill. The company conceded Thursday what some scientists have been saying for weeks: More oil is flowing from the leak than BP and the Coast Guard had previously grossly underestimated.

A live video feed shows what appears to be a large gushing of oil spewing into the ocean. The House committee website where the video was posted promptly crashed because so many people were trying to view it.

Well over 6 million gallons have gushed into the Gulf since the explosion, more than half of what the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled in Alaska in 1989. A growing number of scientists believe it's more.

Continue reading "BP Oil Spill Negligence" »