Is BP Intentionally Stalling for It’s Own Good?

This morning, British Petroleum (BP) said it’s latest scheme to end the oil slick gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for the past 12-weeks is on hold, because of a leaking pipe.

If it isn’t one thing, it is another – for 12-weeks – that’s over three-months – since the April 20 explosion which killed 11 people on the BP oil rig, and has been unleashing a torrent of toxic oil into ecosystems stretching thousands of kilometres.

The latest efforts to repair the deep drilled oil well – so deep even military divers can’t get down there, only robots can handle the pressures at those depths – was supposed to be “the” fix to finally stop the oil.

Less than 12-hours after it began, this fool-proof fix made fools of us all.

Or did it?

Granted, BP’s stock price has ridden the ups and downs of this fiasco, the company has had to shell out billions of dollars, and even took a very public dressing down from the most powerful man in the world – American President Barack Obama.

However, as the old saying goes, any press, is good press.

Despite the negative comments hurled at BP for creating the world’s worst human-caused environmental disaster – even when compared to the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 – BP has been consistently in the press for the past three-months.

That’s not all bad, because the more your name is out there, the more valuable your business is. Sure it isn’t good news, but that hasn’t stopped BP from making money.

And that’s why the question has been raised, that maybe BP is intentionally stalling it’s clean up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.

What a horrible thing to say! To think that major, multinational company would intentionally do harm to the environment just to increase its value.

However it isn’t completely without basis, major multinational companies have gone to great lengths in the past to succeed, even when it means doing things not exactly kosher.

Just look at the Enron scandal, where the company intentionally mislead investors by over inflating it’s profits by $1 billion dollars in 2001. This lead to criminal convictions, suicides by executives, and the eventual failure of the company.

Or look at American Airlines, which has repeatedly delayed repairs ordered by the American government’s Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) regarding its fleet of aging MD-80 airliners. Some of these repairs could affect the lives of everyone on-board, as failing to repair cracks to pressure bulkheads could cause the cabin to depressurize, leading to the catastrophic loss of the plane.

Clearly, business ethics aren’t front and center in the hearts and minds of the world’s corporate elite.

So, is BP stalling to make the most of a bad situation?

Only the time will tell.

Meanwhile, the environment and those who live in the affected areas continue to suffer, due to BP’s continued negligence.

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America’s Not So Green President

Breaking news from CNN, the U.S. Interior Department issued a new moratorium to block deepwater oil and natural gas drilling today.

Big whoop.

If the American government really gave a damn about the environment, then we wouldn’t still be talking about the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill in the Gulf, which began April 20 – yes APRIL. An estimated 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of crude oil continue to pollute all the interconnected water and ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico EVERY DAY.

BP has yet to cap their leaking – more like GUSHING – oil well, and despite fines, harsh language, and personal meetings with American President Barack Obama, BP is taking a very lazy, don’t give a rat’s ass approach. Their latest scheme to stop the oil well is only being considered a temporary measure, which may or may not even work.

We live in an age of technological wonder. As you read this sentence, billions of emails, web pages, instant messages and text messages have been sent and received.

Yet in this world of instant everything, when it comes to our home, planet Earth, nothing is quite as fast.

Yes, eventually Mother Nature will clean up the mess left by the careless executives at BP that failed to prevent this disaster from occurring. Mother Nature takes her time – scientists estimate it’ll take about half-a-million years before all the oil is gone if it were just left there for Mother Nature to tackle.

Plants and animals affected by the oil won’t come back from the oil spill for another few thousand years after that.

The first Black American president often considered the most “green” because of his strong public image towards environmental initiatives is looking anything but green. His first attempt to initiate a moratorium on deep oil drilling was tossed out by a federal judge – yes a FEDERAL judge.

Now we sit and wait for the overly powerful oil and gas industry to take the latest deep oil and natural gas drilling moratorium to court. Will the American President be embarrassed a second time, by having one of his own federal judges toss it out?

Moratoriums aren’t even a real solution, they just are temporary bans, which means they are temporary quick fixes to long-term, real problems.

The long-term real problem – our dependency on fossil fuels.

When President Obama was recently sworn in, he gave a serious of very moving speeches, mentioning how his administration was committed to reducing what he called in all of these orations “America’s dependence oil and non-American fossil fuels.”

He enthused with great energy, how he was going to take the lead, in moving America away from this dependency. He talked about ensuring all federal government buildings had green power alternatives, and how Americans can harness the power of the wind, the Sun and the water to make America great once again.

He did what many politicians in many countries do – he gave great big moving speeches.

Unfortunately, he then did what many politicians in many countries have also done – failed to act on those great big moving speeches.

The BP oil catastrophe isn’t a time to back away, and let a room full uncaring oil executives tell you it just can’t be done.

NOW is the time President Obama should make good on those great big moving green speeches. NOW is the perfect time to take action, to really make America – and the world – a better place.

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Once Upon a Time, the Automakers Actually Cared About You and Me

If Henry Ford were alive today, he’d be shaking his head in disgust.

As if last week’s appearance in front of an American courtroom for Toyota’s president to answer questions about his company’s overabundance of safety recalls wasn’t enough bad press for the auto industry, General Motors issued a recall of its own affecting 1.3 million vehicles sold around the world.

Recalls affecting millions of vehicles from automotive manufacturers are becoming an all too common occurrence. It wasn’t all that long ago when a recall only affected a few thousand vehicles from one plant in one country.

Toyota has recalled over 8.5 million vehicles from around the world – that’s the equivalent of about one vehicle for every man, woman and child in New York City.
Wasn’t it Ford’s slogan a few years back “Quality is Job 1?”

Quality has gone the way of the Dodo bird – or at least it appears to be extinct as we witness these continuous streams of recalls from the auto giants.

Perhaps during the recent economic recession, the automakers cut costs by shopping for the best prices on the bits and pieces to put their products together, instead of basing their decisions on the quality we have come to depend upon?

It wouldn’t be the first time a major company has cut corners to save a buck. We consumers have been known to shop for the best deals too – just look at the line-ups at your local store which sells everything for a dollar.

Ever get a light bulb or set of batteries to power your portable radio at the local Dollar Store? Sure you may have got a steal of a deal, only paying a dollar, but chances are within a few hours, that light bulb or set of batteries won’t be working anymore.

That’s the price you pay when you go on the cheap. Quality goes by the wayside, and soon you’re sitting in the dark without any radio.

Though when the automakers cut corners, and their quality dips, people get scared, hurt or even die in motor vehicle accidents.

General Motors recent recall is based on 1,100 customer complaints, which include 14 crashes and one reported injury. Though those numbers may be higher, as many people don’t report minor accidents or injuries to their insurance companies, fearing their insurance rates will go up.

Toyota’s larger recall has resulted in the deaths of at least five people so far, but as many of the cars and trucks are still on the road with these problems, that number too may climb.

Yes, in an economy as brutal as we’ve seen of late, people aren’t as quick to go out and purchase big ticket items like houses and cars. So automakers suffer in a slumping economy. But then again – at least in General Motors case – they secured government bail-out funds to see them through the rough economy.

What it really comes down to is corporate culture. General Motors has grown mega-large, and as with many mega-large companies, after a while they don’t care about quality, because they don’t have too. What are a few thousand accidents or injuries when you have millions of other customers to count on?

On the surface, these big companies put on their game face, telling us all about their innovations in safety, security and customer care. They tell us how they will do whatever it takes to get and keep our business.

But all these companies really are interested in is your money.

In both the Toyota and General Motors recalls, it took thousands of customer complaints before either company even considered there was anything wrong with their products. That’s one of the allegations against Toyota which the American government is investigating – the amount of time it took them to recognize problems with their vehicles and to act on those problems, based on the number of complaints, injuries and deaths.

Companies that truly care about their customers don’t wait until thousands of their customers complain – they act immediately.

If Toyota and General Motors had shown the least bit of concern for their customers by acting immediately on complaints, neither would be facing the public relations disaster they are now both in the midst of.

But maybe a little dirt on their squeaky clean images is in order – because now at least, we know just how little value they place on you and me.

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Toyota an Example of a Failing Global Village

Today, Japanese auto giant Toyota announced another series of recalls which could lead to the injury or death of drivers, passengers, and even pedestrians.

Today’s recall affects over a million vehicles in the States – previously the automaker announced a similar recall affecting about 270,000 cars in Canada and 2.3 million cars in the States. The problem – a faulty gas pedal which could stick, propelling the vehicle into oncoming traffic, people, or whatever else happens to be in the path of destruction.

Toyota says they may be recalling vehicles in China and Europe as well, making this a problem of global proportions.

Which is fitting of sorts, the problem is global in nature – outsourcing parts and manufacturing operations to other countries, where labor is cheap and quality assurance doesn’t exist.

You don’t have to be an academic to see the troubling trend, just reviewing the headlines in the major newspapers around the world reveals all.

We’re seeing more recalls and consumer alerts for faulty products every year, as companies continue to cut corners to save money.

In recent years, food producer Maple Leaf Foods had numerous Listeria outbreaks – a deadly bacteria which snuck into their processing plants. Over a dozen people died, many more reported possible contamination, and the company’s reputation sunk quicker than a sunset.

Pet food made in China was linked to numerous dog and cat deaths around the world – it had anti-freeze in it. If you have a dog or cat feeding dish made in China, you may want to toss it, some have caused serious illnesses because of lead-based paint.

Lead-based paints in children’s toys proudly boasting a “Made in China” label have also caused health scares across the globe.

Toyota’s recent recalls are just the latest in a very public series of events showing a serious failing of our global village – quality control.

For the past decade many companies have been farming out their products and services to other countries, where wages are lower, saving them money. The problem is, as is always the case, you get what you pay for.

When wages are low, so too is the way the company treats its employees. And when companies don’t treat their employees well, quality doesn’t matter.

Sure, it may cost less to make a widget in Mexico than in North America – but if that widget falls off while you are driving over a 100 KM/Hour down the highway, and you can’t stop, that cost savings just cost a lot more – your life.

But that’s assuming companies that cut these cost savings corners actually care about you in the first place.

A lot of the heads running these global organizations just don’t appear to care – that is until it is their good company’s name making the horrible headlines about faulty products and services, recalls, or in some cases, even the death of their customers or others.

Do people have to die before a company wakes up, and realizes the ultimate cost of using cheaply made products and services?

Sadly, even death doesn’t influence the corporate movers and shakers anymore. Less than a year after the deadly Listeria outbreaks at Maple Leaf Foods, despite a large-scale media campaign where the company president appeared on television, radio and full-page newspaper ads assuring us it wouldn’t happen again – it did.

Toyota’s recent recall isn’t the first for the automaker, and it isn’t the first for any automaker. All the car companies have had recalls of varying degrees.

However a truly global village example may be a recall that you’ve never heard of before, but could affect you or the ones you love.

The average commercial jumbo jet has thousands of parts, many made all over the world. There have been instances where an airplane manufacturer, or in some cases even the manufacturer of a specific part or series of parts, have recalled the part, or issued a service bulletin advising of specific maintenance which must be done, to ensure the part or series of parts doesn’t fail. Some of these bulletins have even been issued by governments – in the United States they are issued by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and called “Air Worthiness Directives.”

When the FAA issues an Air Worthiness Directive, it must be followed. It’s the American government’s way of saying this must be done, if you want to continue to fly your planes in our airspace.

There have been instances where an airline hasn’t followed an FAA Air Worthiness Directive, resulting in a faulty part, which has brought down an airliner, and caused numerous deaths and injuries.

As consumers, we have no way of knowing about these internal airline documents – the average person doesn’t even know they exist. Yet these product recalls and fixes affect all of us who fly, and all the families and friends of those soaring in the sky.

Where does it end?

Again we have to ask, do people have to die before the corporate minds providing us with the products and services we depend on change their ways?

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