Reply #17: Bp will try to say F it for sure [View All]

Here is part of a letter I recvd from Sen. Durbin.......

Tell British Petroleum: Don't even think about dragging your feet, passing the buck, or billing American taxpayers so much as one penny (or one pence) for this mess.

Sure, BP has pledged to pay all "necessary and appropriate" clean-up costs, as well as "legitimate and objectively verifiable claims" for injuries and losses resulting from the spill.

But what happens when the TV crews pack up their cameras and the nation's attention shifts elsewhere?

Exxon's P.R. team made a similar promise shortly after its Valdez tanker spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound. That was in 1989.

Almost two decades later Exxon's lawyers were still in court, refusing to pay damages. In the end Exxon-Mobil, the most profitable corporation in history, paid out just a fraction of what it owed.

Tell British Petroleum: Don't even think about dragging your feet, passing the buck, or billing American taxpayers so much as one penny (or one pence) for this mess.

British Petroleum likes to furnish an image of environmental responsibility, and sometimes they do good deeds. But we know better than to just take BP for its word. After all, this is the same company that only scrapped its plan to dump toxic chemicals into Lake Michigan after hearing from tens of thousands of DickDurbin.com activists like you back in 2007.

That experience showed us two things. It proved the power of ordinary citizens to take on even the most powerful multinational corporations -- and win. And it demonstrated that when profits are on the line, BP will only live up to its environmental commitments if the public demands it.

So as millions of gallons of oil creep ever closer to the American shoreline, threatening wildlife and the entire American economy, BP needs to know we're watching. Under no circumstances will we allow them to renege on their pledge to pay for all clean up costs and any damages that arise from this devastating spill.

Thank you for taking action.

Sincerely,

Dick Durbin
U.S. Senator