Friday, June 11, 2010
Mexico Will Sue BP for Gulf Oil Pollution-Related Expenses
For years, Americans have thought of Mexico as a country where there are next to no environmental laws.
Indeed, many American and British companies have opened factories in Mexico because their environmental laws are so lax.
It is therefore ironic that the Mexican Environment Minister said that Mexico is suing BP, a British corporation which is causing one of the worst environmental accidents ever in the U.S., helped by the corruption of U.S. regulators.
As Bloomberg notes:
Mexican Environment Minister Juan Elvira Quesada said yesterday in an interview in Mexico City [that] Mexico plans to sue BP to get reimbursed for related expenses and wildlife damage in Mexican territory. Pemex, the ministries of the navy, environment and agriculture are incurring expenses caused by the company, he said.Note: Mexico is responsible for the worst oil spill in world history: Ixtoc. But the BP oil spill in American waters will probably surpass Ixtoc as the world's worst spill before it is finally capped.***
“The lawsuit will not be against the government of United States, it’ll be against the company British Petroleum,” Elvira said.
2 comments:
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That's pretty rich. The Mexicans had a well blow out in the gulf in 1979 -Ixtoc 1- that spewed crude oil for 9 months before it was finally capped. So far it is still a larger spill than the Deepwater Horizon mess. There were oiled coastlines from Campeche to Padre Island in Texas. The US government asked them -Pemex- to pay for cleanup costs for the Port Isabel, Texas area and they refused. I say when they pay up for that mess -adjusted for inflation in the meantime- then somebody can start to think about compensating them for current expenses.
ReplyDeleteActually, I meant to say "when they pay up for that mess -plus interest in the meantime".
ReplyDelete