After the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, employees and volunteers working around the oil became seriously ill and many of the thousands of workers died from inhaling the toxic air and handling dispersants that contained benzene and other chemicals.
Those same chemicals are currently being used on the BP Deepwater Oil Disaster.
In the Gulf the people at risk of illness are the thousands of Louisiana fisherman rendered jobless by BP‘s oil spill. These fishermen have been left with no other option than to work for the same company that has taken away their livelihoods.
In BP‘s most recent move to avoid responsibility, the company is requiring these men and women to sign the waiver below. The waiver protects BP from being sued by their staff and volunteers for "claims and damages in connection with use of equipment connected with the Response Activities."
In other words, BP has prioritized protecting its corporate interests and pocketbook over providing medical care for injuries and illnesses stemming from those workers and families cleaning up the BP mess.
This is BP‘s second attempt to dodge responsibility and limit their liability. A previous BP agreement, that gave residents $5,000 in exchange for waiving their right to sue, was already struck down by Louisiana courts.
This post originally appeared on Huffington Post.



7 Comments

IANAL .. but I am aware that there are certain practices in contract law that are ILLEGAL, even if a contract is drawn up and it is signed, the contract is null and void.
This should be the case for this kind of waiver as well.
I hope the Louisiana courts are looking at this situation in the meantime.
Back in an America’s Cup where USA/Dennis Conner was sailing against New Zealand, and his boat was slower, Conner had such a reputation for skirting rules to gain advantage that the (para)phrase came up, something like, New Zealand rules the waves, Dennis Conner waives the rules.
In the end, Stars and Strips succumbed to Black Magic.
Exactly
Send the BP Executives and top shareholders down to do “hands on” clean up …
i’ll chip in on little ballet slippers for them to wear.
Whenever I hear “clean up” or “pay for” or “compensate” in regard to oil spills I just cringe. There is no such thing to the environment or the wildlife. As far as I know, there’s no alchemy to make oil clean. All the Exxon Valdez’s oil is still in Alaska. The beaches that look “clean?” The oil is still there.
You might research the health problems encountered from the oil (tanker) spills that occurred in France and Spain in recent years to obtain a picture of the health hazards faced by the clean-up crews for those episodes. Neither costal areas nor their biotic habitat has been restored to pre-spill conditions. Both France and Spain have health care systems; the health costs were absorbed by those nations, exactly the opposite the case in the exceptional US (/sarcasm).