Bush Administration Let BP Off the Hook, Twice
May 21st, 2010Former EPA investigator Scott West says the Bush administration let British Petroleum off the hook twice for incidents that should have led to criminal indictments.
He says BP was told “it can do whatever it wants,” and the company “won’t be held accountable.”
One month after the BP oil spill, Scott West, a former top investigator at the Environmental Protection Agency who led an investigation of BP following a major oil pipeline leak in Alaska’s North Slope that spilled 250,000 gallons of oil on the Alaskan tundra, is interviewed on Democracy Now.
Before West finished his investigation, the Bush Justice Department reached a settlement with BP, and the oil company agreed to pay $20 million. At the same time, BP managed to avoid prosecution for the Texas City refinery explosion that killed 15 workers by paying a $50 million settlement.
