Spill Here, Spill Now, Crossing Debar Dept. 0
Debarment removes a federal grant from the recipient; it the ultimate penalty for misconduct.
Among the types of grants subject to debarment are mineral rights.
Fresh Air interviews ProPublica investigative reporter Abrahm Lustgarten on his investigation of BPs safety practices. From the website:
“[The documents are] strikingly consistent, which was the first thing that jumped out to us …” Lustgarten tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. “You start to see a couple central themes. And those were: internal criticism for a lack of accountability in the company, lack of support for workers at BP and at BP’s contractors. … [There was also] a consistent emphasis of profits over production over safety and maintenance and environmental compliance, meaning they were putting profits ahead of safety. And finally, a systematic disregard for maintenance of their equipment. It’s a process that they call ‘run to failure’ where they would use the equipment for as long as possible while investing as little effort and money in maintaining it as possible.”
Follow the link to listen to the interview or read lengthy selections from the interview.
