Re: Sign The Petition To Seize BP Assets!

On May 28, 1:04�pm, Tom Davos <tda...@gmail.com> wrote:

http://www.seizebp.org/

Seize BP: Campaign Statement and Petition

The government of the United States must seize BP and freeze its
assets, and place those funds in trust to begin providing immediate
relief to the working people throughout the Gulf states whose jobs,
communities, homes and businesses are being harmed or destroyed by the
criminally negligent actions of the CEO, Board of Directors and senior
management of BP.

Take action now! Sign the Seize BP petition to demand the seizure of BP!

200,000 gallons of oil a day, or more, are gushing into the Gulf of
Mexico with the flow of oil growing. The poisonous devastation to
human beings, wildlife, natural habitat and fragile ecosystems will go
on for decades. It constitutes an act of environmental violence, the
consequences of which will be catastrophic.

BP's Unmitigated Greed

This was a manufactured disaster. It was neither an bAct of Godb nor
Nature that caused this devastation, but rather the unmitigated greed
of Big Oilbs most powerful executives in their reckless search for
ever-greater profits.

Under BPbs CEO Tony Haywardbs aggressive leadership, BP made a record
$5.6 billion in pure profits just in the first three months of 2010.
BP made $163 billion in profits from 2001-09. It has a long history of
safety violations and slap-on-the-wrist fines.

BP's Materially False and Misleading Statements

BP filed a 52-page exploration plan and environmental impact analysis
with the U.S. Department of the Interiorbs Minerals Management Service
for the Deepwater Horizon well, dated February 2009, which repeatedly
assured the government that it was "unlikely that an accidental
surface or subsurface oil spill would occur from the proposed
activities." In the filing, BP stated over and over that it was
unlikely for an accident to occur that would lead to a giant crude oil
spill causing serious damage to beaches, mammals and fisheries and
that as such it did not require a response plan for such an event.

BPbs executives are thus either guilty of making materially false
statements to the government to obtain the license, of consciously
misleading a government that was all too ready to be misled, and/or
they are guilty of criminal negligence. At a bare minimum, their
representations constitute gross negligence. Whichever the case, BP
must be held accountable for its criminal actions that have harmed so
many.

Protecting BP's Super-Profits

BP executives are banking that they can ride out the storm of bad
publicity and still come out far ahead in terms of the billions in
profit that BP will pocket. In 1990, in response to the Exxon Valdez
disaster, Congress passed and President Bush signed into law the Oil
Pollution Act, which immunizes oil companies for the damages they
cause beyond immediate cleanup costs.

Under the Oil Pollution Act, oil companies are responsible for oil
removal and cleanup costs for massive spills, and their liability for
all other forms of damages is capped at $75 millionba pittance for a
company that made $5.6 billion in profits in just the last three
months, and is expected to make $23 billion in pure profit this year.
Some in Congress suggest the cap should be set at $10 billion, still
less than the potential cost of this devastationbbut why should the
oil companies have any immunity from responsibility for the damage
they cause?

The Oil Pollution Act is an outrage, and it will be used by BP to keep
on doing business as usual.

People are up in arms because thousands of workers who have lost their
jobs and livelihoods as a result of BPbs actions have to wait in line
to compete for lower wage and hazardous clean-up jobs from BP. BPbs
multi-millionaire executives are not asked to sacrifice one penny
while working people have to plead for clean-up jobs.

Take Action Now

It is imperative that the government seize BPbs assets now for their
criminal negligence and begin providing immediate relief for the
immense suffering and harm they have caused.