[HCCN] Rep Chellie Pingree on BP spillage

[Dexter Bellows]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/7/8/882694/-To-BP:-the-meters-runningyou-spill-it,-you-buy-it


> To BP: the meter's running - you spill it, you buy it
>
> by Chellie Pingree
>
>
> Thu Jul 08, 2010 at 11:33:22 AM PDT
>
>
> Seeing the picture spreading on the Internet of a sign at a BP gas  
> station with the company policy "you are responsible for all spills"  
> made me think of something.
>
> Let’s say you are filling your car at a BP gas station, the numbers  
> on the pump steadily ticking. But when you pull out the pump you  
> give it an extra squeeze, spilling oil on the ground. The meter on  
> the pump just keeps rolling. In other words, you spill it, you buy it.
>
>
>


Unfortunately, we aren’t holding oil companies accountable to the same  
policy they hold their patrons. I’ve introduced legislation to change  
that and have set up a tool on my web site to remind oil companies  
that the meter’s running.


My legislation would force BP—and any other oil company in the future— 
to pay royalties on all the oil it spills.  It’s not enough to have  
them pay for the environmental damage; they need to be held  
responsible for the very limited, very valuable natural resource they  
are wasting. BP has leased the right to drill oil belonging to the  
American people, and I think that whether they refine it or spill it,  
they still owe us for it.
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