NEW ORLEANS — For months, the U.S. government talked with a boot-on-the-neck toughness about BP, with the president wondering aloud about whose butt to kick.
But privately, it worked hand-in-hand with the oil giant to cap the runaway gulf well and chose to effectively be the company’s banker — allowing future drilling revenues to potentially be used as collateral for a victim compensation fund.
Now, with a new round of investigative hearings set to begin Monday on BP’s home turf and the disaster largely off the front pages, there is worry that BP PLC could get a slap on the wrist from its behind-the-scenes partner. That could trickle down to states hurt by the spill and hoping for large fines because they may share in the pie.
“I don’t think they’ve been as tough as they should have been from Day One,” said Billy Nungesser, president of Lousiana’s hard-hit Plaquemines Parish.
PR campaign effective
In the past few weeks, public messages from BP and the government have been almost in lockstep. The government released a report — criticized by academic researchers and some lawmakers as too rosy — asserting that much of the oil released into the Gulf of Mexico is gone.
That played into BP’s message that its unprecedented response effort is working. A recent AP poll shows that BP’s image, which took a beating after the oil spill, is recovering.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said Thursday that White House support for the oil report shows the administration’s “pre-occupation with the public relations of the oil spill has superseded the realities on the ground.”
That differs from the atmosphere early on, when BP was the recipient of some tough talk from the government. A little more than a week after President Barack Obama’s on-air comment about “whose ass to kick” in early June, BP executives encouraged White House officials at a meeting in Washington to back off on the rhetoric.
They reminded the government that a bankrupt company pays no bills, according to a person who was briefed on the details of the meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
A joint investigation team will hold its fourth set of hearings beginning Monday in Houston, where BP’s U.S. offices are located. The panel is charged with reaching conclusions about what happened.
Congress and the Justice Department also are investigating, and various government agencies will be determining how much BP and others should pay in fines for the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers and spilled 206 million gallons of oil.
Size of fine a tricky task
The amount of spilled oil alone could mean a fine of up to $21 billion if BP were found to have committed gross negligence, and criminal charges could be in order if negligence is found.
If the government reaches a settlement with BP on fines that are significantly lower or, on the criminal side, lets them off easy, that could rub a lot of Americans the wrong way. By the same token, if the government comes down too hard on BP, that might hurt the government’s interests because BP’s financial health and its ability to meet its spill obligations are tied together.
