Drowning in Oil BP and the Reckless Pursuit of Profit

Description

pp. 286, “Steffy, business columnist for the Houston Chronicle, first began covering British Petroleum in 2005 after the deadly explosion at their Texas City refinery killed 15 people and injured 170 others. His investigations reveal a corporate culture of cost-cutting initiatives that put profits ahead of workers? lives and the environment, with repeated safely violations and an abysmal accident history. As we all watched helplessly for three months while the Deepwater Horizon oil spill leaked millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, we were led to believe that the disaster could not have been foreseen. Steffy details how, in the context of BP?s record, the disaster was just part of a pattern of poor decision making in the relentless pursuit by BP to become the largest and most profitable oil company in the world. When the Deepwater Horizon well was finally killed for good in September 2010, the world barely took notice. BP CEO Tony Hayward, who never stood amid the charred rubble and burned flesh of his own decisions, has resigned, but Steffy sees few signs of major reform at the company.”