Schumer: BP ‘finally got the message’ on dividend payments

“BP has finally gotten the message.
It’s taken a long time, but it finally looks like their ears are
opening up to what America is asking for,” Schumer said. “Throughout
all of this, BP had appeared more concerned with paying dividends to
their shareholders, and less concerned with the destruction of this oil
spill and what it’s done to the Gulf. Now we can have some faith that
BP will be required to do what’s right. This has been a good day for
the residents of the Gulf Coast, for the American people, and a good
day for President Obama.”

Begich said he spoke earlier Wednesday
with Transocean, the company that owned the rig that BP leased for the
drilling project that went catastrophically awry in April. The April 20
explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and touched
off what has become the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

Begich said he tried to impress upon the company to follow BP’s example with its announcements Wednesday.

Schumer
said he is not concerned that BP could slip into bankruptcy as the
cleanup costs mount, noting that the company earned $7 billion in
profits in the most recent financial quarter.

“They’re a very
wealthy company,” Schumer said. “Even the highest estimates of damage
costs don’t come close to bringing them under. But remember this,
before we shed lots of tears for BP… BP wasn’t as careful as it could
have been. No one wants BP to go under, but no one wants them to escape
its full responsibility.”

Cross-posted to the Blog Briefing Room.