US makes BP pay, ignores Bhopal
Washington: US President Barack Obama on Wednesday said British oil giant British Petroleum (BP) would provide $20 billion to pay claims for damages resulting from the spill at BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, about 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana in which 11 workers were killed and 17 were injured.
"This $20 billion will provide substantial assurance that the claims people and businesses have will be honored. It’s also important to emphasize this is not a cap. The people of the Gulf have my commitment that BP will meet its obligations to them. BP has publicly pledged to make good on the claims that it owes to the people in the Gulf, and so the agreement we reached sets up a financial and legal framework to do it," Obama said in a statement.
Earlier, in a televised statement, Obama had said the US would make BP pay for this disaster. "Make no mistake: We will fight this spill with everything we’ve got for as long as it takes. We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused. And we will do whatever’s necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy," he said.
However, this issue has angered sevaral Indians who have accused the US of having double standards. While the US government holds BP and its CEO Tony Heyward directly responsible for the spill; in 1984, the US embassy pushed for 'safe passage' for the then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson.
While this current oil spill has killed 11 people, the Bhopal Gas tragedy in 1984 killed more than 20,000 and the number is increasing even today. The Bhopal victims have received aid of only about half a billion dollars.
"This is the worst possible example of double standards," Sunita Narain, Director, Centre for Science and Environment told a national news channel.
"My only request to the US government is that as they are learning from their pain, they should share that pain and understand the pain of other countries," Narain added.
Victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy have written to US President Barack Obama demanding 'real justice' and asking him to extradite former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson to India so that he could be tried here.
Anderson, who currently lives in New York, is one of the main accused in the Bhopal gas tragedy case.
The former CEO was flown out of India by the then Madhya Pradesh government on December 7, 1984, four days after the gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal.
The accident, which has been called the worst industrial disaster in the world, killed some 20,000 people and injured another 5,00,000.
Twenty-six years after the disaster, a lower court on June 7 convicted and sentenced for only two years eight former top officials of the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation, USA.
The verdict did not name Warren Anderson, while all those convicted got bail after the judgement.
Washington: US President Barack Obama on Wednesday said British oil giant British Petroleum (BP) would provide $20 billion to pay claims for damages resulting from the spill at BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, about 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana in which 11 workers were killed and 17 were...
Washington: US President Barack Obama on Wednesday said British oil giant British Petroleum (BP) would provide $20 billion to pay claims for damages resulting from the spill at BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, about 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana in which 11 workers were killed and 17 were injured.
"This $20 billion will provide substantial assurance that the claims people and businesses have will be honored. It’s also important to emphasize this is not a cap. The people of the Gulf have my commitment that BP will meet its obligations to them. BP has publicly pledged to make good on the claims that it owes to the people in the Gulf, and so the agreement we reached sets up a financial and legal framework to do it," Obama said in a statement.
Earlier, in a televised statement, Obama had said the US would make BP pay for this disaster. "Make no mistake: We will fight this spill with everything we’ve got for as long as it takes. We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused. And we will do whatever’s necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy," he said.
However, this issue has angered sevaral Indians who have accused the US of having double standards. While the US government holds BP and its CEO Tony Heyward directly responsible for the spill; in 1984, the US embassy pushed for 'safe passage' for the then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson.
While this current oil spill has killed 11 people, the Bhopal Gas tragedy in 1984 killed more than 20,000 and the number is increasing even today. The Bhopal victims have received aid of only about half a billion dollars.
"This is the worst possible example of double standards," Sunita Narain, Director, Centre for Science and Environment told a national news channel.
"My only request to the US government is that as they are learning from their pain, they should share that pain and understand the pain of other countries," Narain added.
Victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy have written to US President Barack Obama demanding 'real justice' and asking him to extradite former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson to India so that he could be tried here.
Anderson, who currently lives in New York, is one of the main accused in the Bhopal gas tragedy case.
The former CEO was flown out of India by the then Madhya Pradesh government on December 7, 1984, four days after the gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal.
The accident, which has been called the worst industrial disaster in the world, killed some 20,000 people and injured another 5,00,000.
Twenty-six years after the disaster, a lower court on June 7 convicted and sentenced for only two years eight former top officials of the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation, USA.
The verdict did not name Warren Anderson, while all those convicted got bail after the judgement.
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