Say it ain’t so Smokey Joe!

Corporation linked to Joe Barton (R-TX) Refuses to Pay its Share of Gulf Cleanup Costs.

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, the largest patron of Smokey Joe, owns 25% of the Deepwater Horizon Platform as well as 25% of the cleanup responsibilities reports indicate. As BP’s partner in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it has been presented a $272 Million bill towards its share of the Gulf Cleanup costs spent to date. BP has forked out Billions and they should. Now it is time Anadarko to step up and speed cleanup efforts along by paying its fair share.

However, recent reports indicate that Anadarko is refusing to voluntarily pay its share of the cleanup costs. This is really unfortunate because when it is forced to involuntarily pay up, years may have gone by while the damage is being done today.

This leaves BP to bear the clean up costs alone. Now nobody feels sorry for BP. However, the damage to the Gulf isn’t gonna be paid for by the tax fairy; the damage is being paid right now in terms of a lower quality of life for residents, from the bank accounts of small businesses, from the value of folks’ homes and from responsible players such as BP. As a matter of fact every dollar Anadako hoards from its share of the clean up effort, is a dollar that comes out of pocket of working folks along the Gulf.

Here is the thing Anadarko ain’t a charity case. If they wanted to do the right thing they could:

If it is eventually required to pay, Anadarko could draw on nearly $4 billion of cash to pay for its share of the bill. Anadarko also owns a number of assets around the world that could go a long way toward paying a cleanup tab. For example, it owns part of an oil field off the coast of Ghana that was valued at $4 billion by Exxon Mobil last year.

"If push comes to shove, Anadarko can raise $4 billion in a heartbeat — at least,"

Anadarko’s got Billions of Dollars and they are trying to stick it to the little guy. Some friend you got there Smokey Joe.

Now that I think about it Smokey Joe, I believe that you have some explaining to do.

Just why did you apologize to BP? Were you trying to shift financial burden for the cleanup from BP and its partner Anadarko to the public? Were you engaging in the worst type of socialism possible – the privatization of Reward and the socialization of Risk? BP and Anadarko are richly rewarded with Billions in Profits from Drilling on Public Lands in the good times. But why should the taxpayers bailout these two from the consequences of their conduct in the bad times. Why should they get all the profits and we get stuck with all the damages?

Just what were you up to when you apologized to British Petroleum? Smokey Joe, you owe America some answers.