Gulf Coast Oil Spill Asshattery Continues

Remember my post on May 1 about unvarnished greed?

To underscore my point, consider this:

According to an article in the Huffington Post (and verified here) British Petroleum was attempting to convince Gulf Coast residents to sign away their right to sue BP in exchange for a one-time, lump-sum payment of up to $5,000.

You read that right.

In an attempt to limit their own economic liability, the "Beyond Petroleum" Company lawyers were trying to buy people out at rock-bottom prices.

As of this morning (since they got caught), BP's CEO Tony Hayward said the practice had stopped.

From the Huffington Post article:

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told "Good Morning America" today that it was unacceptable for BP to ask fishermen it hired to help with the cleanup of the Gulf oil spill to sign waivers that would limit the company's liability.

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"I'm looking into that right now." she said. "I was just alerted to that and if that in fact is the case, that is a practice we want stopped immediately."

BP CEO Tony Hayward told "GMA" this morning that the company has already put a stop to the practice.
"That was an early misstep George, frankly. We were using a standard contract. We've eliminated that," Hayward told George Stephanopoulos. (emphasis mine)

That's in their "standard contract? 
Holy shit.

According to another BP spokesperson, this "misstep" has been discontinued, and any signed waivers would not be enforced (I wouldn't count on the truth of that statement, myself).

Since British Petroleum is all about profit, this attempt by their corporate shysters was merely "good business."

In human terms, it's despicable.

Brace yourself, America.

BP's Asshattery will get worse.