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I think the public backlash against BP was tremendous. The HBO documentary in 2016 was very popular, six years after the incident occurred.

marricks 7y ago
Often we have a “backlash” but they lead to no real consequences probably because we feel so disenfranchised. Once something bad happens the public kind of already knows there will be a fine but none of the board/shareholders will ever really be held responsible.
gumby 7y ago
Tremendous? A congressman even apologized to BP for people saying they were unhappy with the company, and the company's fines had both no effect on their business and did not compensate for even the economic loss of the people in the area.
- mogadsheu 7y ago
  Weren’t there some $5B ordered for civil penalties? I worked in Houston just after the spill and heard BP was in shambles at the time.
  - klyrs 7y ago
    > Weren’t there some $5B ordered for civil penalties? Weren't there some $63B in cleanup efforts?
    - jcranmer 7y ago
      The fines were in addition to the cost that BP bore for cleaning up. Most of that $63B was paid by BP, in addition to all the fines.
- rbg246 7y ago
  I thought the opposite from outside the US - I thought the US lambasted (rightfully) BP which caused BP to almost go out of business - they had asset sales at the time to pay for the costs. There were pension liquidity fears at the time due to the costs that it needed to pay. BP provides a large percentage of dividend payments on the the London Stock Exchange which pension funds rely on for paying out pensions. The wikipedia page is quite clear on how much BP paid in damages and they were not insignificant - $42Billion had been paid into a trust fund. To say no effect is incorrect.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- drilldrive 7y ago
  Glad to see Joe Barton dishonorably not to go for reelection[0]. [0] https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/30/politics/joe-barton-re-election/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/30/politics/joe-barton-re-electi...
maxxxxx 7y ago
There was a backlash but no real consequences (the fine was pretty low compared to the cost of the cleanup). Same for Equifax. Just sit it out and it will be forgotten quickly.
antod 7y ago
> I think the public backlash against BP was tremendous. I do wonder if the backlash would've been less if it was an American company though. Or at least a less obviously "foreign" company. There did seem to also be plenty of blame to go around with local contractors etc, but they seem to have escaped the backlash - or at least had a public narrative absolving them.

marricks 7y ago

Often we have a “backlash” but they lead to no real consequences probably because we feel so disenfranchised. Once something bad happens the public kind of already knows there will be a fine but none of the board/shareholders will ever really be held responsible.

gumby 7y ago

Tremendous? A congressman even apologized to BP for people saying they were unhappy with the company, and the company's fines had both no effect on their business and did not compensate for even the economic loss of the people in the area.

mogadsheu 7y ago
Weren’t there some $5B ordered for civil penalties? I worked in Houston just after the spill and heard BP was in shambles at the time.
- klyrs 7y ago
  > Weren’t there some $5B ordered for civil penalties? Weren't there some $63B in cleanup efforts?
  - jcranmer 7y ago
    The fines were in addition to the cost that BP bore for cleaning up. Most of that $63B was paid by BP, in addition to all the fines.
rbg246 7y ago
I thought the opposite from outside the US - I thought the US lambasted (rightfully) BP which caused BP to almost go out of business - they had asset sales at the time to pay for the costs. There were pension liquidity fears at the time due to the costs that it needed to pay. BP provides a large percentage of dividend payments on the the London Stock Exchange which pension funds rely on for paying out pensions. The wikipedia page is quite clear on how much BP paid in damages and they were not insignificant - $42Billion had been paid into a trust fund. To say no effect is incorrect.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
drilldrive 7y ago
Glad to see Joe Barton dishonorably not to go for reelection[0]. [0] https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/30/politics/joe-barton-re-election/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/30/politics/joe-barton-re-electi...

maxxxxx 7y ago

There was a backlash but no real consequences (the fine was pretty low compared to the cost of the cleanup). Same for Equifax. Just sit it out and it will be forgotten quickly.

antod 7y ago

> I think the public backlash against BP was tremendous. I do wonder if the backlash would've been less if it was an American company though. Or at least a less obviously "foreign" company. There did seem to also be plenty of blame to go around with local contractors etc, but they seem to have escaped the backlash - or at least had a public narrative absolving them.