#BA vs. BP: It’s time for war, soldier. (We used to have more than one, that’s why I left it singular.)

When I watch what’s going on here, it’s beyond disturbing. No one’s actually sure exactly how much oil has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico, but estimates have it at between 50 and 100 million gallons.

BP says they so far have spent 1.25 billion dollars on this mess. Wow. That’s a very large number.

This is a BP press release from February 2010:

BP today reported a sharp year-on-year increase in fourth quarter profits as it announced that its oil and gas production increased by more than four per cent in 2009 and the company continued its industry-leading 17-year run of increasing reserves.

The increase in production was well ahead of the company’s expected long-term average growth rate of 1-2 per cent and reflected the ramp-up and start-up of major new projects, including the first full year of production from the Thunder Horse field in the US Gulf of Mexico. BP’s reserve replacement ratio for the year was 129 per cent – making 2009 the seventeenth consecutive year of reserve replacement of at least 100 per cent.

The company announced that underlying replacement cost profit for the fourth quarter of 2009, before non-operating items and fair value accounting effects, was $4.4 billion – an increase of 70 per cent on the same period in 2008. Full year replacement cost profit for 2009 was $14 billion, down 45 per cent on the record full year profit of 2008, mainly reflecting the weaker market environment of lower average oil and gas prices and depressed refining margins.

This was them bragging about profits and surpluses at a time when you were struggling to fill your gas tanks and the economy was in a free fall, and still is. This was to let investors and potential investors know that BP is rock solid.  That doesn’t make them evil. They’re a corporation.  They’re in business to make money.  But as the world tumbles, should they be flourishing, especially considering the position they’re in to drastically alleviate worldwide financial pressure? Or should they be breaking profit records.

Today, their press release begins:

BP notes the fall in its share price in US trading last night. The company is not aware of any reason which justifies this share price movement.

BP continues to keep the market updated on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill through regular announcements. The response to this incident is our top priority.

BP faces this situation as a strong company. In March, we indicated that the company’s cash inflows and outflows were balanced at an oil price of around $60/barrel. This was before the costs of the incident.

Under the current trading environment, we are generating significant additional cash flow. In addition, our gearing is currently below the bottom of our targeted range. Our asset base is strong and valuable, with more than 18bn barrels of proved reserves and 63bn barrels of resources as at the end of 2009. All of the above gives us significant capacity and flexibility in dealing with the cost of responding to the incident, the environmental remediation and the payment of legitimate claims.

BP will continue to keep the market fully informed of further developments in the response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, in compliance with its listing obligations.

Huh? Allow me to rephrase this: “We see our stock falling. What’s up? Is something going on? We don’t get it. Ohhh, the 100 million gallons of oil destroying the Gulf. Listen, we’re updating you on the situation, and we have more than enough money to deal with this and we’ll pay all ‘legitimate’ claims (wink-wink, nod-nod). You people need to relax and stop being such babies. And the name of the press release?

BP Is Not Aware Of Any Reason For Price Share Movement

This is the equivalent of spit-balling someone in the back of the head, then whistling and looking around when they turn around and eyeball you. Assholes.

As of a couple of days ago, 37% of the Gulf of Mexico is closed for fishing. 37%.  One marine biologist suggested that it would be better to kill the oiled birds then clean them, noting a 1% survival rate whether they are cleaned or not.  When I hear things like this, I want to beat up everyone.

BP: I don’t give a fuck how much this is going to cost you.  You rode us as we struggled to keep our head above water, patting yourself on the back for innovation while taking advantage of price volatility and global instability, even though, as you so eloquently stated,  supply was never an issue. I don’t care if you have to spend every dime you’ve ever made cleaning up this mess. I really, really don’t.

What I do care about, first and foremost, are the innocent animals who will die.  That my family and friends will lose their homes as the economy crumbles around them, and they won’t have “legitimate” claims. That BP is more concerned about the bottom line than they are about either of the two things I just mentioned, as their bean counters tally the mounting costs of this and they look to cut corners to cap costs. And as Roger Ebert said on twitter, “BP lies because they are fined for the amount of oil that leaks into the ocean.” He would later link to this article, which, of course, is shocking, sad, horrible and all the rest.

If you didn’t read it, there’s a marsh in New Orleans that’s responsible for 50% of our nation’s seafood. The man charged with the job of keeping the oil off of the Louisiana coast (Pj Hahn) had a plan to stop the oil from invading Plaquemines Parish, pointing out that when oil hits a beach, you can easily remove it. Not so much when it hits a marsh.

“It’s the life for the whole coast. Everything starts in the marsh, the micro-organisms, the small fish, the shrimp, the oysters, all are born or created in the marsh, then they move out to sea, and that’s the first source for what you have out in the ocean. Fifty per cent of all the nation’s seafood comes from Plaquemines parish and 75 per cent of the nation’s migratory wildfowl pass through here. These are some of the most productive marshes in the country. But the problem we have is that you can go and clean the beaches very easily in Mississippi, in Alabama and Florida, but you can’t clean the marshes.”

Because of bureaucracy, it would take a month to get this plan approved. Unfortunately, a month too late.

The protective booms used to keep the oil at bay aren’t working, so Hahn’s plan is to build sand barriers and simply collect the oil. The cost of the project is $240 million dollars and BP is fitting the bill. Yay for action! It could be there today and could have stopped the oil from spilling ashore.

So what do we do? What can we do?

We can volunteer to clean animals while we hate BP.

We can donate to my new favorite charity , The Colbert Nation Gulf Of America Fund.

You can watch for regular updates and see exactly what is being done here.

And lastly, we can lobby to plug the well with the BP board of directors. I say we should at least give it a shot.

Spread the word #ba, we need as many eyes on this thing is possible, and we have to make them answer for every animal and person affected by this catastrophe.