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muckety<>BP collects billions in U.S. government contracts
By Laurie Bennett
May 28, 2010 at 3:44am


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http://news.muckety.com/2010/05/28/bp-collects-billions-in-us-government-contracts/26301


Daniel Gross of Slate poses the question: How do we punish BP?

The options he suggests - boycotting BP products, charging for the cleanup, even nationalizing the company - are less than satisfying.

Here’s another possibility: How about barring BP from the federal trough?

According to USASpending.gov, BP has received more than $9 billion in defense contracts since 2000. Contracts with Veterans Affairs, Transportation, Commerce and other federal agencies total additional millions.

Pro Publica reports that the Environmental Protection Agency is considering a ban on BP getting government contracts:

Over the past 10 years, BP has paid tens of millions of dollars in fines and been implicated in four separate instances of criminal misconduct that could have prompted this far more serious action. Until now, the company’s executives and their lawyers have fended off such a penalty by promising that BP would change its ways. That strategy may no longer work.

The EPA issued a statement saying it could issue a ban after reviewing “the frequency and pattern of the incidents, corporate attitude both before and after the incidents, changes in policies, procedures, and practices.”

A total ban would not only cancel company contracts, but would prevent BP from drilling on federal land, including offshore sites.

The EPA had already been in talks with BP before the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Agency officials confirmed to Pro Publica that the talks were suspended after the Gulf disaster.
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