/begin rant.
So... Nancy Pelosi says that BP lacked integrity when it presented it's initial proposal for deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. When did she notice this lack of integrity? Was it when BP gave a promise of millions of barrels of cheap oil, oil that was close to home and didn't require heavy military presence in the Middle East, or was it after the shit hit the fan?
Eric Holder says that America won't pay a dime for the clean-up. Which Americans would that be? It won't be the 39% of BP's share holders who happen to be American. It won't be the Americans who need to use BP gas stations or gas stations which are ran by companies which are either BP owned or those who buy their oil from BP and it's distribution companies.
BP offered the USA what the USA wants and needs more than anything else - cheap oil. The USA needs this because it is sadly lacking behind in renewable energy technologies in comparison with other developed countries.
Americans use more oil per head of population than just about any other country on the planet. Americans have been using this oil without ever paying the real price of this oil. Americans have been using this oil while it's Bush Jr Admisitration refused to sign the Kyoto agreement to cut so-called greenhouse omissions. The best thing that could come out of this is that Americans realise that their gluttenous and frivolous use of oil is no longer guilt free, that the price of oil is ALWAYS more than the price paid at the pump.
It seems that the entire current US administration is playing the blame game, throwing that blame squarely on the shoulders of BP. At the same time some of the rhetoric coming from US press sources is borderline anti-British. Perhaps, instead of only looking beyond their own borders to place blame, Americans should look closer to home at their dependence on oil and how they use it.
Perhaps they should also look at the involvement of US companies in this oil field: Transocean Limited, Global Business Lines and Halliburton - are these companies entirely blameless?
Further interest: Piper Alpha & Occidental Petroleum Corporation. ExxonMobil & Prince William Sound.
/end rant.