BP Wants You To Know The Facts
Before I do my balancing act with this blog post, I just wanted to mention Michigan born Michael Moore and his vehement rebuttal of what he felt was gross misrepresentation by a large and mostly respected news outlet, CNN. I have to wonder if he may have unwittingly emboldened ‘big’, ‘bad’ corporations to stand up for themselves against media criticism as well. Is Michael Moore a Catalyst? Not likely, huge corporations have in the past been known to buy several full pages of a newspaper to defend their actions and rebut their detractors.
With regards to the substance of an article in the Chicago Tribune, I would be prepared to accept it as fact. I have been given the opportunity to examine and present the facts as presented by the oil refinery, a BP factory in Whiting, Indiana.
The newspaper states that BP “aggressively markets itself as an environmentally friendly corporation.”
That kind of language is clearly aimed at calling the company’s ethics into question.
The reason for changes at the facility is that the company wants to concentrate on processing Canadian crude oil instead of the lighter, cleaner oil from Middle Eastern sources. The company stresses that Canadian Heavy Crude is a secure and reliable source. I would like to point out that every trans-oceanic shipment of crude oil has the potential for an environmentally disasterous oil spill. With the threat of terrorism, this potential is even greater.
In the newspaper article, a spokesperson for an environmental group bemoans the lack of spending on treatment. In fact $150 million has been earmarked to enhance the BP refinery’s wastewater treatment capability.
BP works in a collaborative and transparent way with all levels of government and their proposed activities are within the rules and guidelines set by government bodies.
I went to the Wikipedia entry for BP. Its neutrality is also in question. Despite it’s questioned neutrality, I would highly recommend it as a source of further information. Be sure to check for proper citation and even go to the source material itself wherever possible. BP wants people to have an accurate picture of what they are all about.
It’s kind of a catch 22 that BP comes under fire for Green Washing its image. We have a civilization and an economy that depends on fossil fuels and a population that demonizes the business of providing them.
