More than a year after the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform that killed 11 people, leaked countless gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico and earned BP the title of Worst Company In America, the petroleum giant has received approval from the federal government to begin drilling again in the Gulf. [More]
BP
Probe: BP Cost-Cutting Led To Spill
By 9.15.11
BP’s infamous oil spill last year in the Gulf of Mexico might have been prevented had the company not offered incentives to workers to cut costs rather than improve safety. A 16-months-in-the-making government report concluded that there were five instances in which BP either cut costs, decreased drilling time or increased risks. [More]
BP Station Employee Sprays Down Wannabe Robber With Gas
By 9.13.11
Earlier this year, BP was voted the Worst Company In America by Consumerist voters for its involvement in spilling oodles of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. But for one employee at a Massachusetts BP station, spilling a bit of petroleum-based product on the ground made the difference between being robbed and thwarting a crime. [More]
BP Thinks People Should Go 90 MPH On Main Street?
By 9.2.11
This is odd. Reader Kevin spotted a sign on top of a BP gas pump that has an image of a GPS device on it. In the GPS screen, it shows whoever is driving as going 90 MPH while going down “Main Street.” An attempt to subliminally encourage people to use more gas, perhaps? [More]
BP Faces Audit Over Spill Compensation
By 7.21.11
The prizes keep flowing for reigning Worst Company in America champ BP, which not only received the Golden Poo for its spilleriffic efforts, but now gets the pleasure of an independent audit to verify it’s on the up-and-up in terms of distributing the $20 billion oil spill victim compensation fund. [More]
Worst Company In America Trophies In The Mail To BP & Bank Of America!
By 5.13.11
It was our biggest — and closest — Worst Company In America final ever, but in the end it was BP edging out Bank of America by less than 1%. After waiting a couple weeks to see if either company would pick up their award at Consumerist HQ, we packed the poos up and shipped them out. [More]
Big Oil Execs Defend Need For $21 Billion In Tax Breaks
By 5.12.11
Even though Exxon Mobil alone earned more than $30 billion in profit in 2010 — and has reported a huge 69% increase in profit in the first quarter of 2011 — that company’s CEO was one of several oil biz execs trying to convince the Senate Finance Committee that they still need $21 billion in tax breaks. [More]
BP To Pay $25 Million Penalty For Alaska Oil Spill
By 5.3.11
Long before BP was cutting costs — and spilling oodles of oil — into the Gulf of Mexico, it was polluting the soil in Alaska by refusing to properly maintain its pipeline system. And now your Worst Company In America has agreed to pony up $25 million to settle the federal investigation into a massive Alaska spill in Prudhoe Bay. [More]
Just How Much BP Oil Is Left In The Marshes?
By 4.28.11
On the one-year anniversary of the catastrophic BP oil spill in the gulf, scientists are still struggling to figure out just how much oil is in the marshes. This excellent New York Times video explores their challenges, not the least of which is the inherent complexity of determining the damage to a vast and vibrant ecosystem. One group of researchers, for example, are guesstimating the number of bird deaths by taking bird carcasses out to sea, dropping them in, and seeing how many wash ashore. [More]
BP Spreads The Worst Company Love Around, Sues Deepwater Horizon Partners For Billions
By 4.22.11
As many readers mentioned in the comments leading up to BP’s hairline thin victory over Bank of America in this year’s Worst Company in America tournament, the oil company wasn’t the only one involved in the disaster on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. Now, a year on from that horrible incident, BP has filed suits against Halliburton, Transocean and Cameron International. [More]
Art Activists Cover Naked Body In Oil In Tate Museum To Protest Censorship And BP Sponsorship
By 4.22.11
A group of art activists this week staged an unsanctioned protest inside the world-famous Tate Modern museum in London by pouring oil over a naked body lying on the floor. [More]
Worst Company Winner BP Commits Up To $1 Billion To Speed Up Gulf Restoration
By 4.21.11
A day after the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 offshore rig workers, released millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and earned BP the title of Worst Company In America, the Golden Poo winners announced that it has reached an agreement to pony up another $1 billion toward Gulf restoration efforts. [More]
Would BP Benefit By Acknowledging Worst Company In America Win?
By 4.20.11
For six years, Consumerist readers have picked a winner in the Worst Company In America tournament. And in those six years, while one or two companies in the brackets have made mention of the contest — if only to poke fun at the winner — no WCIA champ has come forth to accept the title. But there are some who feel like the winners would benefit by exhibiting some humility and publicly accepting the Golden Poo. [More]
Congratulations BP: You’re The Worst Company In America!
By 4.18.11 — Updated: 9.4.14
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon, an offshore oil rig leased by BP to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, caught fire following an explosion. The disaster left 11 men dead and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf. For the cost-cutting efforts that ultimately led to this catastrophe — along with others in Texas and Alaska that have killed more than a dozen more employees, injured hundreds and leaked toxic chemicals into the air and water — thousands of Consumerist voters have selected BP as the Worst Company In America. [More]
The Worst Company In America Final Death Match Is Over — But Who Won?
By 4.17.11
This year’s Worst Company In America final death match between BP and Bank of America received the highest number of votes of any WCIA championship ever — it was also the closest final in the tournament’s history. [More]
One Day Left To Vote On BP Or Bank Of America For Worst Company In America!
By 4.16.11
UPDATE: POLLS ARE NOW CLOSED. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO VOTED!
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As you read this, Bank of America and BP are locked in deadly combat in the Worst Company In America octagon, in what will likely be the closest final death match in tournament history! [More]
Worst Company In America Final Death Match: Bank Of America Vs. BP
By 4.14.11
In the same year that a film about a stammering British king won the Best Picture Oscar, another UK misfit, BP, now stands on the precipice of claiming another precious piece of Americana: The Golden Poo. But that’s only if the oily Brits can wrestle the trophy out of the tenacious-but-incompetent grip of this nation’s least-favorite native son, Bank of America. [More]
