Unjust Criticism of BP for Cost Savings

E-Mail to Congress:

EIN News says, "Documents Show BP Crew Focused on Costs. BP PLC engineers made a series of cost-conscious decisions that ran counter to the advice of key contractors in the days leading up to the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, according to documents released by a congressional panel. (wsj.com)"

What's wrong with focusing on costs? I do it all the time. If I didn't, I'd be up to my neck in debt, like the federal government. Any private company must focus on costs if it's going to stay in business. The statement that the cost decisions "ran counter to the advice of key contractors" is too nebulous for my book. Sub-contractors traditionally try to sell something unnecessary in order to make an additional profit. It's the job of the main contractor or owner to weed out the excesses and get the job done. In the above statement, nothing was mentioned about sacrificing safety and the proper culmination of the project, because of cost savings. One can always assume the worst, but unless I see data to support a negative contention, I'll give the benefit of doubt to the operator.

Oil drilling and many other operations are risky businesses. Operators do not knowingly sacrifice completion of a project for saving a few bucks. BP engineers and financial managers used their best judgment in operating the way they did. Unfortunately, they did not properly police the operation to be sure that things were working. Government routinely has the same problem. We complain about it but do not castigate government for it. Why castigate BP. They at least supply us with oil. Government supplies us with questionable benefits, which are better handled by ourselves.