BUSINESS — BP USED OIL INDUSTRY TAX BREAK TO WRITE-OFF ITS RENT FOR FAILED DEEPWATER RIG: Reports continue to demonstrate how deeply unprepared BP was to deal with its disaster in the Gulf of Mexico with tar balls reaching Texas’ shores and entering Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain. But the New York Times now explains how the oil behemoth took advantage of U.S. tax policies to significantly benefit from the failed Deepwater Horizon rig. Transocean, the company that owns that rig, used well-known tax havens in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland to reduce its U.S. corporate tax rate by almost 15 points. And due to a break in the U.S. tax code, BP was also allowed to write off 70 percent of the rent it paid to Transocean on its own tax bill. “According to a letter sent in June to the Senate Finance Committee,” the benefit amounted to “a deduction of more than $225,000 a day since the lease began.” As the Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo writes, “[E]ssentially, the U.S. taxpayer paid BP to lease a rig that was incorporated in a foreign country for the purpose of avoiding the U.S. corporate tax.” This benefit to BP is a symptom of a larger issue. Garofalo explains that “the U.S. tax code is actually riddled with breaks for the oil industry, despite that industry’s record profits in recent years.” Sima Gandhi, a senior policy analyst for the Center for American Progress, has counted nine different subsidies that the U.S. government gives to the oil industry, including refunds for drilling costs and refunds to cover the cost of searching for oil. Last month, only 35 senators voted for eliminating $35 billion of the industry’s subsidies. Fully cutting this corporate welfare would save $45 billion per year and, according to the Office of Economic Policy at the Department of Treasury, “affect domestic production by less than one-half of 1 percent.” “The flow of revenues to oil companies is like the gusher at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico: heavy and constant,” said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) in response to BP’s Deepwater write-off. “There is no reason for these corporations to shortchange the American taxpayer.”
Tag Archives: republicans
Fracking -natural gas &Halliburton
Gasland … a terrifying reminder of the word fracking and though we all want to believe in natural gas as another alternative ….the HBO special opens a person eyes way beyond what anyone has told us in the government and what we all should know …the name Dick Cheney comes up quite often.
below is the trailer for the Josh Fox documentary …everyone needs to watch this then go to Youtube and watch all 10 parts for yourselves. We all need to call our President to stop fracking unless done with extreme caution and backup plans. If done wrong causes the water to bubble and turn flammable …obviously gets into our ground water and could be very dangerous.
below is the Josh Fox Premier of Gasland PT 1,2 and 3 there are 10 parts…go to Youtube and watch them all
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America Speaks to BP
BREAKING: BP to stop burning endangered sea turtles
This victory started with you. You made a difference.
Over 140,000 CREDO Action members — including you — told BP and the U.S. Coast Guard to stop burning sea turtles alive during oil cleanup efforts. With your help, CREDO Action was the first progressive group to organize widespread grassroots pressure to end this practice. You brought national attention to the issue, forcing BP and the Coast Guard to take action.
Faced with mounting pressure from a number of organizations and the press, BP and the U.S. Coast Guard have finally agreed to new measures to protect endangered sea turtles in the oil slick burning zones.
Read the news here: BusinessWeek: BP, Coast Guard Will Save Turtles From Oil Burns.
Though the details are still being worked out (and we’ll need to ensure that BP and the U.S. Coast Guard follow through on their agreement) we are confident that measures and procedures are being put in place to prevent endangered sea turtles and other wildlife from being burned during oil spill clean-up activities.
Clearly, there is still much work to be done to stop the oil spill, clean up the environmental devastation, address the economic disaster and ensure that BP is held accountable. But it’s important to recognize and celebrate this victory as we face the challenges ahead.
Your pressure works.
Becky Bond, Political Director
CREDO Action
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Rainforest Action Network
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Mariana Jiminez, a 71-year-old grandmother from the Ecuadorean Amazon, dips her hand into the oil-black water in the precious marshlands off Louisiana’s Gulf coast and holds a dying, oil-drenched crab in her hand. She warns of the petroleum-laced water, “This is very very dangerous. This is a poison that kills. Not instantly, but it will kill slowly.” This week, four Indigenous and community leaders from Ecuador (Mariana, Emergildo, Humberto and Luis), as well as advocates from Rainforest Action Network and Amazon Watch, are deep in Louisiana’s sweltering Bayou witnessing the depth of BP’s oil disaster. The Ecuadorean delegation has come to share the hard-won lessons from Chevron’s Amazon oil disaster with the United Houma Nation and Atakapa-Ishak tribes, American Indian communities dependent on a healthy Bayou for their very survival. Every Indigenous person we meet expresses fear and anxiety about losing their ability to feed themselves and their families, and to continue their way of life on the water…all because of BP’s greed-driven failures. These fears are by no means misplaced, as this is exactly what happened to the Indigenous peoples of Ecuador’s rainforest, at the hands of Chevron Corporation. They too used to fish, but had to start farming to sustain themselves. They spoke of the family members they’ve lost from oil-related birth defects and illnesses, and warned the Houma of the long-term health problems they will be facing long after BP and the TV cameras have left their shores. As we walked along the deserted, oil-stained beach in Grand Isle, Brenda Dardar Robichaux, former Principal Chief of the United Houma Nation, explained how struck she was by the similarity of her story to the story of Indigenous peoples of the Ecuadorean Amazon. From Louisiana’s Bayou to Ecuador’s rainforest, you see the same oil-sheened waterways and dying animals. You smell the same toxic stench in the air. Families nurse their loved ones through oil-related illnesses, respiratory diseases, and cancers while being told the same lie by oil companies and politicians alike- “the oil won’t hurt you.” In the heart of Houma territory, these communities have come together to find ways to hold reckless, criminal oil companies like BP and Chevron accountable. Check out news footage of their first days touring the Gulf, as well as the incredible photos on Flickr. Thanks so much to all of you who donated to make this very special journey possible. You can follow the rest of the tour through the Gulf on We Can Change Chevron’s Facebook page and @ChangeChevron on Twitter.
P.S.Donate now to support Rainforest Action Network’s critical work to hold oil companies accountable and to support frontline communities from the Amazon to the Gulf. |
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