Who Pays?

President Obama expects British Petroleum to pay for the Gulf oil spill clean-up.

Good luck on all of that.

Aside from the massive environmental impacts and the devastating loss of jobs, work and incomes, the scrubbing could cost upwards of $15 Billion.

BP is not alone.

They share the oil rig project with Transocean of Switzerland and Houston's Anadarko Petroleum.

Shares of BP, Transocean and Anadarko have plummeted since the rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering a massive oil leak. BP’s market value has sunk by about $30-billion since the accident. Shares of Transocean have dropped 21 per cent on the New York Stock Exchange and Anadarko’s stock is down 14 per cent.

How many lawyers occupying how many complete buildings toil for BP full-time?

Cleaning up the crude will be significantly easier that getting BP and its friends to pony up to the pay booth.

All of which raises a boatload of questions.

Starting with...what codicils are built into these drilling agreements in the first place regarding disasters?

The photo is of a giant containment device that will be lowered into the ocean to grab some of the spill.