BP Update: Oil Spill Harmful Effects, Obama Meeting and Republican Criticism

BP's air monitors indicate that some toxic chemicals are being released into the air. This raises the issue of workers wearing respirators. OSHA and BP agree that the risks of wearing respirators outweigh the benefits. This is primarily due to the fact that the respirators are difficult to breath through and create additional stress. However the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup led to respiratory disease, heart disease, cancer and death. OSHA states that those workers working in dangerous areas should wear respirators but only where the benefits of wearing a respirator out weigh the risks. BP recently stated that workers who want to wear respirators will be relocated. But the workers state that BP threatened to fire them.

One of the problems in determining what illnesses the oil spill caused is that only 7 of the oil spill were investigated for health effects. Stating that certain health conditions were created by oil pollution and convincing a court are two separate items. The government plans to monitor long term health effects and is tracking reports of illnesses.

There are more losses due to this oil spill than are apparent. People at Alabama beaches and Florida beaches had their swimming activities halted when oil clumps washed up on the beaches. Beach front property values take a nose dive when oil reaches the beaches. To make matters worst, the BP claim process is a nightmare and this isn't only the word of people making claims: It is also the word of lawyers filing for their clients. The business owners whose survival is being threatened because of the oil spill received the initial $5000 dollar payment from BP over a month ago and have not received another payment to date. Even the BP water samples that appeared clean have been found to contain oil contaminates when tested. Some fear that these contaminates may end up in our food chain.

BP wants Houston Federal Judge Lynn Hughes to reside over all cases against BP. Judge Hughes leases land to oil companies for drilling purposes and has received royalties from the oil companies. In past cases, Judge Hughes has decided for oil companies in a little more than 50% of the cases. This raises questions about Judge Hughes being the appropriate Judge to decide cases against BP.

On a related topic, people at Alabama beaches and Florida beaches had their swimming activities halted when oil clumps washed up on the beaches.

It is estimated that 78000 square miles of ocean have been contaminated by this BP oil spill.

Obama persuaded BP to start two independently managed trust funds: A 20 billion dollar trust fund for the clean up effort and a 100 million dollar trust fund for claims. The 20 billion dollar trust fund will be fully available in four years as BP will contribute 5 billion dollars to the trust fund each year.

Some Republicans claim that Obama's meeting with BP's CEO was a shake down. They say that Obama violated the US Constitution by intimidating BP via a threat of criminal negligence charges to persuade BP to initiate these two funds. These Republicans want the natural course of law to resolve all claims against BP. However, the flaw in the Republican claim is that the US Constitution applies to US businesses and not foreign businesses. The fact that BP is not a US business and the fact that the contaminates from this oil spill may find it's way into our food and affect people's health makes this a major national issue.

BP wants Houston Federal Judge Lynn Hughes to reside over all cases against BP. Judge Hughes leases land to oil companies for drilling purposes and has received royalties from the oil companies. In past cases, Judge Hughes has decided for oil companies in a little more than 50% of the cases. This raises questions about Judge Hughes being the appropriate Judge to decide cases against BP.