BP Accuses La. Governor Jindal Of Misrepresentation

BP executives are angry with comments from Louisiana governor Bobby jindal. BP’s vice president of U.S. communications, Geoff Morrell lashed out at Jindal and his top coastal official, Garret Graves for comments made on Thursday at a meeting of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council.
Morrell said, “Their political grandstanding contains patently false assertions, defies the demonstrated record of environmental recovery that has occurred across the Gulf, and defames the massive efforts of tens of thousands of people to foster prompt recovery and restoration.”

Graves e-mailed this response to the Associated press, “BP is not a victim of this disaster. No matter what they say or do, the families of the deceased and the citizens of the Gulf are the victims and we are going to fight to hold BP accountable for their actions. BP’s campaign to portray themselves as the victim is shameless.”
Jindal says  BP has made its image a higher priority than covering restoration costs.

“BP needs to stop spending hundreds of millions of dollars on their public relations campaign telling us how great they are and start proving it by addressing their Clean Water Act and Natural Resources Damage liabilities now. While Transocean has stepped up to the plate and paid much of their liability, BP has not.”
- La. governor Bobby Jindal

Morrell fired back, “Repeated assertions that we have spent more money on advertising than this are grossly in error and seem purposefully intended to mislead the public. ” He also asserted that BP has spent more than $26 billion on response, cleanup and claims.
Transocean Ltd. pleaded guilty to its role in the massive oil spill and agreed to pay $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines. BP has agreed to a record $4 billion in criminal fines, but is still  in litigation over civil fines.