BP CEO Downplays Significance of Gulf Oil Spill
Seems that Louisiana lawmakers aren’t the only ones downplaying the size of the Gulf oil spill this month. BP CEO Tony Hayward told the Guardian on Friday that crude oil still gushing from the ocean floor is insignificant relative to the size of the sea it’s contaminating.
“The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean,” Hayward said. “The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.”
The shrimpers, crabbers, hoteliers and ferrymen of the region would likely disagree.
BP reportedly made some progress over the weekend, inserting into the gusher what’s effectively a big straw that’s pulling about 1,000 barrels a day to barges floating on the Gulf’s surface. That’s a start, but it does nothing to plug to leak.