BP's 'disappointing' profits — still sky-high
Poor BP. The multibillion-dollar oil company that has continued to pollute our waters and ignore the safety of its workers just can’t win.
This morning, BP reported its disappointing profits for the second quarter: only $5.6 billion. Boo hoo.
Oh, wait. As Think Progress points out:
Despite making $11 billion in profits in just 2011 alone, BP and its other Big Oil allies continue to aggressively lobby Congress to maintain their billions of dollars in oil industry tax breaks. A quick look at some other key facts:
- BP has already spent $2 million lobbying Congress this year.
- BP has made more than $40,000 in political contributions in just 2011, with 93 percent going to Republicans.
- The Big Five oil companies — BP, Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell — made more than $900 billion in profits (figure in 2011 dollars) – almost a trillion dollars – over the previous decade.
Then take into consideration that of the $20 billion BP allotted for its escrow fund to repay the victims of its devastating oil spill last summer, the company has doled out only $4 billion. And if that weren’t bad enough, BP wants to stop paying the Gulf’s victims because “the tourism industry is booming, all federal fishing grounds have reopened, and the shrimp catch has been plentiful.”
I really wonder who’s looking after the company’s PR because this is outrageous.