"That is alleged. "
Huh? Most of this is from the logs that were kept. This isn't hearsay, although testimony from people on the scene is pretty strong evidence, this is from the information that was logged during the procedures. It is difficult to get harder evidence than this.
"We don't know if there are mitigating circumstances that caused BP to take certain actions. "
Earth to i-node, there are no mitigating circumstances for violating best practices. That is why they are called "best practices".
Just FYI.
"Furthermore, even if the alleged "violations" DID occur, we don't know whether they had anything at all to do with the explosion since we do not, as yet, know what CAUSED the explosion."
Well, according to epistemology, we really don't know much of anything. I don't have much use for that brand of tail-chasing, but you seem desperate enough that you might go there.
In a less strict sense of 'knowing', there are several things we do know. And those things indicate that BP and its contractors were playing fast and loose with safety protocols and industry best practices. In this sort of thing, it isn't really relevant whether or not any of these things were the actual, direct cause of the accident. They were doing the equivalent of driving backwards down an Interstate at peak traffic with a blindfold on and plowed into several cars. It isn't important whether or not those cars could have dodged if they had been concentrating on watching for someone driving backwards down an Interstate at peak traffic with a blindfold on...
"You'd be having a shit fit over BP's treatment in the media if BP were a poor 21 year old black kid instead of a wealthy corporation."
Not really. I don't have much sympathy for the defense that "Ok, I pointed the gun at him and pulled the trigger. I didn't know that a bullet would come out and hit him between the eyes"... |
