BP’s “greenwashing” vs. their actual record of lawsuits, fines and criminal convictions

I’ve posted a new article at BPOilNews.com about BP’s history of lawsuits, fines and criminal convictions for oil spills and other safety and environmental violations. I was surprised to discover just how bad BP’s record actually is. Here are the first two paragraphs:

By now we’re all familiar with the latest national environmental crisis. An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon, a BP offshore oil drilling rig, caused the deaths of 11 workers, injured 7 more, and left an oil spill the size of Rhode Island drifting inexorably toward the Gulf Coast. But this isn’t the first time that BP has been responsible for an environmental crisis, or the first time that they’ve attempted to change the narrative when accused of environmental malfeasance.

The initials BP originally stood for “British Petroleum,” but you wouldn’t know it in recent years. In an interesting example of “backronyming,” in 2000 the oil giant began labeling itself “Beyond Petroleum.” This slogan, found plastered on ads in national publications and on television, was soon reinforced when the company, according to Multinational Monitor’s The 10 Worst Corporations of 2005 report, announced “that it expects to spend as much as $8 billion in alternative-energy projects, including solar, wind, hydrogen and carbon-abatement technology, over 10 years.” Just how serious is an $8 billion commitment from BP? Given the fact that BP reported a profit of more than $6 billion in the first quarter of 2010, it’s merely four months’ profit.

Read the full article: BP greenwashing. To join the conversation, leave your comment about the BP oil spill at BPOilNews.com. Follow us on Twitter for short, frequent BP oil spill news.

Tagged as: BP, BP Oil News, BP oil spill, Deepwater Horizon, greenwashing, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Oil Spill, oil spill