Day: June 8, 2010

BP tells the Mississippi House of Representatives to suck it: Does not show up for House Committee Hearing.

In the course of just over an hour, most of it spent on a question and answer session, the three men attempted to present a picture of a company under pressure, but with the financial and technical wherewithal to meet the immense challenges it faces.

At times evasive, sometimes disarmingly frank – quizzed about the personal toll events were taking, Mr Hayward stunned his audience by proclaiming “I’m a Brit, I can take it”……

Clearly conscious of the political storm surrounding the spill in the US, Mr Hayward said BP’s most important job over the long-term was to “regain the trust” of the American public.

So said Tony Hayward on an investor conference call which we originally covered here. So how does BP go about re-gaining the trust of America’s public and how tough is Hayward? (H/T Jarvis DeBerry)

First off you continue telling lies such as denying that which everyone that casually followed the BP Gulf Oil disaster knew existed in those underwater oil plumes, which NOAA finally confirmed today in the face of public ridicule as bloggers are seemingly better informed than NOAA. Continue reading “BP tells the Mississippi House of Representatives to suck it: Does not show up for House Committee Hearing.”

Slabbed takes at peek at NFIP direct and explains the timing of State Farm's departure from the Flood Program

This J&A approval request does not diminish the fact; that FEMA Acquisitions allowed this contract to be performed without adequate oversight from our acquisition staff whether inherited or created. As an organization we are taking full ownership of our responsibility to manage the contract properly and are taking the necessary steps to correct our process.

Welcome to Government, Inc., NFIP style, as FEMA issued a justification and approval to extend the contract with NFIP’s Direct Servicing Agent, Computer Science Corporation on April 30, 2010. We’ve profiled the problems in the National Flood Insurance Program since early 2008 and believe me when I say the above disclosure takes FEMA light years away from the federal agency and program long known for its coziness with the WYO insurers it was charged to regulate during the George Bush years.

FEMA has a problem though as we continue quoting from the justification and approval:

The NFIP-Direct is the only option for independent Agents (as opposed to “captive agents” who write through their companies such as State Farm, Nationwide, Traveler’s, etc.). The Direct via Independent Agents have historically written about 10% of the total Continue reading “Slabbed takes at peek at NFIP direct and explains the timing of State Farm's departure from the Flood Program”

Slicked and Slabbed Part 4: Slabbed calls bullsh*t on the sand berm scheme. BP is being fleeced to no good end.

Folks the more we learn the more this stinks and believe me we are not fans of BP here at Slabbed. The latest installment in as the berm turns comes courtesy of the Science Insider:

It could be one of the sloppiest engineering plans the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has ever seen—a hand-drawn plan illustrating how engineers would fill in a channel in Dauphin Island to prevent oil from reaching sensitive wetlands. The corps posted the permit application and asked for comment from agencies and public in just a few hours. Continue reading “Slicked and Slabbed Part 4: Slabbed calls bullsh*t on the sand berm scheme. BP is being fleeced to no good end.”