Transocean, the world's largest drilling company and owner of the exploded Deepwater Horizon drilling rig leased by BP, conducts business with some pretty bad people.
Human rights advocates have called for an investigation into Transocean’s recent dealings in Myanmar. They cite its involvement in a drilling project that apparently included a company that is suspected of having ties to two men accused of laundering money for Myanmar’s repressive government, which is under United States trade sanctions.
Transocean has disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission filings that its drilling equipment was shipped by a forwarder through Iran and that until last year it held a stake in a company that did business in Syria. The State Department says Syria and Iran sponsor terrorism.
The NYT report adds that Transocean is not only under investigation for skirting U.S. tax laws, but it is also under investigation in Norway. In 2008, the company moved its corporate headquarters from Cayman Islands to landlocked Switzerland to lower its tax burden. It's pretty scummy stuff.
In other oil spill news and notes:
- Plans to capture 90% of the oil leak continue to be hampered by bad weather. A third containment vessel can't be hooked up until seas calm down, which will be next week at the earliest. A new tropical depression in the Gulf has triggered tropical storm warnings in South Texas and could potentially further complicate matters.
- Drilling continues on the relief well, though it is not expected to be finished until mid-August.
- Oil continues to threaten Alabam's shoreline even as more oil washed ashore in the region on Wednesday (photos).
- When oil hits beaches, it seeps below the top layer of sand, making cleanup extremely difficult. Fortunately, the oil is weathered and therefore not terribly toxic, but it still poses a threat, particularly to tourism and local economies.
- Bobby Jindal isn't getting a free pass on his chest thumping bravado anymore. People who actually know what they are talking about are stepping up to the plate and calling him on his baloney.
- By the way, did you know that the company that won the contract to build Bobby's berms was also the #3 contributor to his congressional campaigns? Are there any experts on Louisiana campaign finance who could explore his state-level fundraising?
- Mobile Mayor Sam Jones is criticizing Alabama Governor Bob Riley's handling of the oil spill. Jones says Riley hasn't made funds from BP available to Mobile; Riley says Jones has never asked for help, a charge Jones denies.
- In the diaries: BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 44 and Fishgrease: Booming Separation.
- St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis believes dispersants are responsible for breaking apart the oil and allowing it travel inland into Lake Pontchartrain. He's calling on the federal government to order BP to stop using them.
- Alabama state officials say at least 58 people have gone to emergency rooms and other care centers since May 14 to be treated for ailments related to the oil spill.
- BP CEO Tony Hayward is flying to Abu Dhabi to ask for financial assistance in dealing with his company's oil disaster. Meanwhile, back in the U.S., he's paid at least $5.6 million so far to purchase newspaper ads to boost BP's image.
continued at Daily Kos....
