From One Man Made Disaster To Another
Back in 2011 Rick Scott chose the eve of the one year anniversary of the BP oil spill in the Gulf to say that he "trusted BP to do the right thing" while announcing that Florida would not be joining other Gulf states in a lawsuit against the companies involved.
At the time, his argument in favor of a trustworthy and fair BP over the rights of Floridians potentially damaged by the spill was this:
“It doesn’t make sense that the state join that lawsuit. We have a plan to make sure our state is treated fairly with regards getting reimbursed by British Petroleum for the damages done to our state,” Scott told reporters on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the oil rig blast that spewed 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Scott spoke with reporters at Eastern Shipbuilding in Allenton, outside Panama City, where he and the Florida Cabinet will meet later this afternoon. The governor is in the Panhandle for a two-day swing as the region’s cheerleader-in-chief, coinciding with a $30 million marketing effort paid for by BP to the seven Gulf Coast counties hardest hit by the oil disaster.
Scott said that a settlement "would be utopia" and in spite of the views of a renowned attorney who said that "the state has a solid claim and the governor is obligated to get all the money it can for Florida taxpayers," Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi said they had other plans.
So, how did that work out?
After virtually ignoring the oil spill and those Floridians suffering the consequences, and with his potential for reelection in jeopardy, Rick Scott chose yesterday to announce that four years later, Florida will now join a lawsuit seeking damages from BP and others:
The lawsuit seeks compensation for damage to natural resources unlike a lawsuit for economic damages filed by Attorney General Pam Bondi in 2013.
"While the full extent of the Deepwater Horizon spill and the environmental damages may not be known for years, the impacts to date have been widespread and severe, damaging the organisms, habitats and ecosystems in Florida waters and to Florida’s coastline," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit was filed against companies including BP American Production Co.,Transocean Ltd. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Scott said the lawsuit represents another attempt to hold the parties accountable for environmental harm.
"Our main priority is to help the families of Florida’s Panhandle recover, and we will continue our work to ensure that this goal is reached,” he said.
Sadly, those "families" were never a priority for Scott until his reelection became one.
Sadly also, is how this illustrates that government should never, and can't, be run like a business, which has been Scott's business model all along. While Florida's fishing industries, cleanup workers, Gulf residents, and many more were losing business, money, and quite possibly their health, Scott chose to "trust" BP and those other companies, rather than acting as the governor should to hold the company accountable for Floridians who were hurt by the spill. Only now, when what nearly everyone predicted has come true; that BP apparently can't be trusted to do the right thing, Scott swoops in at the last minute to join this lawsuit.
Does anyone really think he's doing this for "Florida families" rather than for his electoral benefits? No doubt it hasn't escaped him that his rival, Charlie Crist, was hands on from the get go when the oil spill first happened, and before the oil even made its way to Florida. (For that matter, Alex Sink was there right alongside Crist at the time.)
Add to that, barely one month in as governor, and only months after the oil spill itself, Rick Scott was quick to criticize the Obama Administration for daring to put an offshore oil drilling ban in place. He even, laughably, criticized the President for daring to enact the ban without first consulting King Rick.
At the time Scott wasn't at all concerned for Florida families, but rather, concerned for the "job creators" like BP, and like oil spill cleanup companies with ties to Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, and later, members of Scott's own team.
Meanwhile, as BP continues making their rosy claims about the Gulf recovery efforts in advertising campaigns, tar mats and balls are still being discovered almost daily. A tar mat weighing in at 1,250 pounds was discovered just last month off Pensacola Beach. (Story behind paywall.)
One has to ask themselves, should the nightmare come true and Rick Scott is reelected, will he continue to pursue this lawsuit in the name and interests of "Florida families," or sell them out with a symbolic and minuscule settlement?
Or as he refers to it, "utopia."
(Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)
