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BP's Disregard

ProPublica investigative reporter Abrahm Lustgarten uncovered a series of internal documents indicating BP repeatedly disregarded safety and environmental rules. His findings, published Tuesday in The Washington Post, indicate that BP was well aware of safety and maintenance issues as early as 2001.

"[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." ...

CLICK HERE to read Abrahm Lustgarten's full Fresh Air/NPR report.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!