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Tony Hayward attempts to spread blame across the drilling industry like his failed rig has spread oil across the Gulf of Mexico:
BP maintains that it alone does not deserve all the blame for the April 20 accident and its aftermath, and it intends to pursue legal action to have drilling partners share in the cost of containment and cleanup. Those partners include Transocean, which operated the rig; Cameron, which built the blowout preventer that failed to shut down the well; and Halliburton, which cemented the oil drill into place underwater.
"It is clear the accident was the result of multiple equipment errors and human error involving many companies," Hayward said in the webcast.
(…)
Hayward also defended his record on safety. "Safety, people and performance have been my watchwords," he said. "We’ve made significant progress."
Wow. Way to man up and accept responsibility, Tony. Even if we grant the rather shaky premise that Transocean, Cameron and Halliburton did shoddy work, it was BP calling the shots, and BP that made all of the fatally bad safety-last decisions that led inevitably to disaster.
It was BP that chose a wellbore design without seals or a liner – and then chose to skip the acoustic test which would have detected any flaws in Halliburton’s cement job. It was BP that falsely claimed that BOP failures were "inconceivable" and declined to install a backup unit. It was BP that cut corners on testing the BOP and ignored the presence of rubber sealant in the drilling fluid. And it was BP that ignored all the warning signs of dangerous pressure and replaced the drilling mud with seawater.
In short, even if there were quality issues with Transocean, Cameron and Halliburton, BP deliberately turned a blind eye to potential problems in order to get the Deepwater Horizon pumping as quickly as possible, and now eleven people are dead and the entire Gulf ecosystem may be dying. Heckuva job, Tony.
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And BP that chose to hire these shoddy subcontractors.
Tony, that doesn’t speak well of your ability to select your business partners, old chap.
Tony Hayward: Why’s Everybody Always Picking On Me?
Back when I was dealing in the DoD world of contract administration, we ALWAYS worked under the premise that whatever happened, it was the Prime contractor’s ultimate responsibility if something went wrong since it was the Prime contractor’s responsibility to control the actions of their subcontractors.
Tony —> FAIL
Excellent post, Eli.
The fundamental function of corporations is to EVADE RESPONSIBILITY.
Because they have immense “resources” corporations through the “persons” of their “officers” have convinced themselves (and, apparently, everyone else, or at least, those who “matter”) that not only are they, these officers, above any culpable behaviors, they are subject, and must be, to no accountability whatsoever or at all.
When, finally, confronted with the reality that they may, actually, find themselves on the “hot” seat, their first instinct is to deny, and then to deny, and then to deny … further. Should this usually successful “tactic” fail, then these terribly wealthy and all-powerful people immediately seek underlings or others to blame.
It is all rather childish and utterly and totally irresponsible, pathetic, and if we are honest, completely absurd.
The question is this. How much longer may we, as a people and a nation, put up with such behaviors without finding ourselves and the entire world, specifically the environment which tolerates and supports our existence, an existence far more tenuous than than were are ready or able to acknowledge, in a shambles and reduced to the least possible things?
When the ruling classes, in the persons of the Justices on the Supreme Court of this land, behave with utter disregard of the above mentioned FACTS, then we must, truly, begin to INSIST that change is not only be a “good” thing but a most necessary, proper, and INEVITABLE thing.
Our ruling classes will deny this is so, but, in truth they are simply spoiled brats and must be seen as such, despite the fact that ALL of our myths say that they are golden, moral, and beyond error or reproach.
The ruling classes have failed at their task, monumentally, and the evidence suggests, quite intentionally, assuming that, as has been their experience in the past, the rest of are so stupid or cowed as to not dare challenge the insanity, the total mindlessness of that fundamental conceit.
Surprise! Surprise!
It is no longer up to the elite, but has come down to survival and reason.
We do have the small problem of a legal profession which has tossed the rule of law in deference to unfettered power and un-throttled greed.
However, if we are to survive, and possibly thrive, then we must, together, seek new pathways with the understanding that our economic “system” is but a game. A game devised by ourselves not bequeathed by God in his heavens or any “divinity” at all.
Just as children can fashion new games, so too can we. Indeed, we must, and this time, we can fully understand – it is up to us.
DW
I really like your summation of both Tony the Terrible and his company’s failure as well as the dilemma we face with the Corp Elite and MOTU…but your last sentence, which presents a formidable challenge, has me wondering…in your most learned fashion, what do you suggest?… exclusive of something prolonged and perhaps violent.
The ongoing revolution must be and continue to be … non-violent.
Essentially, that revolution is about understanding … and what one will NOT go along with, nor embrace, nor tolerate.
We must risk being CONSCIENCE …
And we must develop clear, concise narratives of what the world we should like to “see” will feel like, that others may find such possibilities attractive, desirable, and humanly necessary.
Already, the majority of the people, as opposed to the political and ruling classes, see no future in warfare, either as “solution” or as a desiable economic “engine”, realizing that everyone loses, and opportunities are lost.
We must build on this sensibility while addressing the genuiune needs of real human beings.
Such dialogue will allow possibility of which damned little now seems apparent to many people.
People are fearful, but still hoping, still, esentially “open”. The danger comes if demgogues supply the “vision” and appeal to deep-seated fear and prejudice.
These are my thoughts, edve, I should appreciate any of yours.
DW
I keep wondering how my generation, the Boomers who were sent to Vietnam in such large numbers for no good reason, could have allowed such a thing to happen when they were in charge back in 2002. I’m still flabbergasted that John Kerry voted for the war in Iraq.
I’m less surprised by our lack of sophistication when it comes to economic issues. We really have been spoiled there. But even when we had hard lessons to learn, it seems like some of us have forgotten. Our ruling class, who generally did not pay the price of Vietnam, certainly didn’t help that situation any. But why weren’t the rest of us (collectively) smarter?
Answer that question, and I suspect we’ll have figured out how to prevent things like this from happening again.
Not to mention the hundreds, if not thousands, of fishing communities in the Gulf Coast region who have lost their livelihoods.
Yes… the elites love to romanticize those who are part of generations of people who have made our culture what it is–or what it used to be. Just before they trample all over it.
Not to mention the fish …
Being the prime contractor, as BP was for the Gulf oil well, brings with it responsibilities. If BP didn’t call out clearly in its contracts what practices were to be followed, or it didn’t try to ensure that those practices were followed, it’s as responsible as its subcontractors for what went on. I haven’t read of BP producing documents that show they did any of that, and most of what I see shows pretty convincingly that it was the opposite.
How do you think Hayward got to the top of BP? Hayward was one of the can do no wrong guys, I’ll bet. I remind, they didn’t call Ronald Reagan the Teflon President for nothing. Some people just roll that way and they roll a long ways that way. Do they finally stand revealed? Yes, but by then there’s an awful lot of damage behind them. Generations and decades worth of damage. Opportunity cost, indeed.
I read the headline to this post (which is good), and my immediate thought was: Of course, and what did anyone expect??
Seriously, it’s pretty sad when this is not only the expected behavior and attitude of these overpaid crooks, but it is also what they’re paid to do. It’s all part of BeeePeee’s PR/marketing effort: hey! Look over there!!! Ignore that man behind the curtain and move along now…
Ugh. As long as citizens continue in their willingness to be forked by the corporations, this will continue. As long as citizens willingly participate in the delusion that the private sector should never be regulated, then this will continue to happen.
US citizens rolled over a long time ago, and now we reap what we’ve sown (and yes: present company excepted, but it’s true for the vast majority, even solidly Democratic voters).