Guard watches coast for oil slick's first wave

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

From a public relations standpoint, if you're another big oil company (say Sunoco or Exxon), how do you approach this situation?

Do you take this opportunity to tout your commitment to safety, do you offer to help BP solve the problem, or do you just keep quiet?

I think that's a good question and that's where all of this headed. On one hand, Sunoco and Exxon can't start running ads about how much safer they are than BP in terms of drilling. That just won't fly, but they can start some internal campaigns and double down on saftey standards and let the watchdog groups and the EPA vouch for them.

As far as helping out, yeah, I would stay away from that too unless the government mandated it, which I doubt they will. Simply because I wouldn't want my company's name attached in any way, shape, or form to this incident in the smallest way. Let BP own this 100% from start to finish. I will say this though, if the other to oil giants get involved, it should be with the clean-up effort ONLY. I would ensure that oil has been stopped 100% before we start with the clean-up effort.