prev
next
As Oil Spews in Gulf, BP CEO Attends Yacht Race
Last Updated 3:43 p.m. ET
Just when it seemed Gulf residents couldn't get any more outraged about the massive oil spill fouling their coastline, word came Saturday that BP's CEO was taking time off to attend a glitzy yacht race in England.
Tony Hayward's latest public relations gaffe didn't sit well with people in the U.S. who have seen their livelihoods ruined by the massive two-month oil spill.
"Man, that ain't right. None of us can even go out fishing, and he's at the yacht races," said Bobby Pitre, 33, who runs a tattoo shop in Larose, La. "I wish we could get a day off from the oil, too."
Dear Tony Hayward: You Do Not Have Your Life Back (Commentary)
Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf
As social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook lit up with anger, BP spokespeople rushed to defend Hayward, who has drawn withering criticism as the public face of his company's halting efforts to stop the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
Robert Wine, a BP spokesman at the company's Houston headquarters, said it's the first break Hayward has had since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and setting off the undersea gusher.
"He's spending a few hours with his family at a weekend," Wine said Saturday. "I'm sure that everyone would understand that."
Not Mike Strohmeyer, who owns the Lighthouse Lodge in Venice, on Louisiana's southern tip, who said Hayward was "just numb."
"I don't think he has any feelings," he said. "If I was in his position, I think I'd be in a more responsible place. I think he should be with someone out trying to plug the leak."
Wine said Hayward is known to be keenly interested in the annual race around the Isle of Wight, one of the world's largest. It attracts more than 1,700 boats and 16,000 sailors as famous yachtsmen compete with wealthy amateurs in the 50-nautical mile course around the island.
Hayward was watching his 52-foot yacht "Bob," made by the Annapolis, Md.-based boatbuilder Farr Yacht Design. It has a list price of nearly $700,000.
The outing is one of a series of missteps by Hayward in recent weeks. He suggested to the Times of London that Americans were particularly likely to file bogus claims over the spill, then later told residents of Louisiana that no one wanted to resolve the crisis as badly as he did because "I'd like my life back."
Even the British press, much more sympathetic to the company's plight, has expressed disbelief at its media strategy.
"It is hard to recall a more catastrophically mishandled public relations response to a crisis than the one we are witnessing," the Daily Telegraph's Jeremy Warner wrote Friday.
That was before news about the yacht race broke but after the chief executive made his appearance before a U.S. House investigations panel in which he dodged question after question, claiming he was out of the loop on decisions surrounding the well that blew when the Deepwater Horizon exploded.
President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, called Hayward's decision to attend the yacht race a public relations fiasco and told ABC's "This Week," that Hayward had "got his life back."
"I think we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting," he said in an interview taped Saturday.
Mr. Obama has also struggled to counter criticism of how his administration has handled the disaster. Up to 120 million gallons of oil has already gushed into the Gulf.
Crude has been washing up from Louisiana to Florida, killing birds and fish, coating delicate marshes and wetlands and covering pristine beaches with tar balls.
A pair of relief wells that won't be done until August is the best bet to stop the massive spill. By late June, BP hopes a newly expanded containment system can keep nearly 90 percent of the flow from the broken pipe from hitting the ocean.
But the buzz Saturday on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook was all about Hayward's yacht outing, with many noting that Gulf residents want their lives back too.
It was not clear whether Hayward took part in the race, which he attended with son, or was just a spectator. His boat finished fourth in its class. It often costs tens of thousands of dollars (pounds) to equip a yacht for a race as competitive as the Isle of Wight.
Meanwhile, environmentalists and local officials along the Gulf were infuriated by Hayward's weekend plans.
"I'm glad Mr. Hayward is on a yacht, because he certainly hasn't been helping us," said Robert Craft, the mayor of Gulf Shores, Ala. Officials on the Alabama coast estimate tourism is down about 50 percent because of the spill.
Questions remained about whether Hayward is still in charge of the cleanup effort. BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg seemed to suggest Friday that he was being withdrawn from the front line of the response.
"It is clear that Tony has made remarks that have upset people," Svanberg told Sky News television, adding that Hayward was "now handing over" daily operations to BP Managing Director Bob Dudley.
But BP spokeswoman Sheila Williams said Svanberg was misunderstood and that only a transition to Dudley, an American with 30 years in the oil business, had begun.
"Hayward is very much in charge until we've stopped the leak," she told the AP on Saturday.
BP, Britain's largest company before the oil rig exploded, has lost about 45 percent of its value since then - a drop has alarmed millions of British retirees whose pension funds hold BP stock. Just this week, BP announced that it was canceling its quarterly dividend.
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Just when it seemed Gulf residents couldn't get any more outraged about the massive oil spill fouling their coastline, word came Saturday that BP's CEO was taking time off to attend a glitzy yacht race in England.
Tony Hayward's latest public relations gaffe didn't sit well with people in the U.S. who have seen their livelihoods ruined by the massive two-month oil spill.
"Man, that ain't right. None of us can even go out fishing, and he's at the yacht races," said Bobby Pitre, 33, who runs a tattoo shop in Larose, La. "I wish we could get a day off from the oil, too."
Dear Tony Hayward: You Do Not Have Your Life Back (Commentary)
Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf
As social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook lit up with anger, BP spokespeople rushed to defend Hayward, who has drawn withering criticism as the public face of his company's halting efforts to stop the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
Robert Wine, a BP spokesman at the company's Houston headquarters, said it's the first break Hayward has had since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and setting off the undersea gusher.
"He's spending a few hours with his family at a weekend," Wine said Saturday. "I'm sure that everyone would understand that."
Not Mike Strohmeyer, who owns the Lighthouse Lodge in Venice, on Louisiana's southern tip, who said Hayward was "just numb."
"I don't think he has any feelings," he said. "If I was in his position, I think I'd be in a more responsible place. I think he should be with someone out trying to plug the leak."
Wine said Hayward is known to be keenly interested in the annual race around the Isle of Wight, one of the world's largest. It attracts more than 1,700 boats and 16,000 sailors as famous yachtsmen compete with wealthy amateurs in the 50-nautical mile course around the island.
Hayward was watching his 52-foot yacht "Bob," made by the Annapolis, Md.-based boatbuilder Farr Yacht Design. It has a list price of nearly $700,000.
The outing is one of a series of missteps by Hayward in recent weeks. He suggested to the Times of London that Americans were particularly likely to file bogus claims over the spill, then later told residents of Louisiana that no one wanted to resolve the crisis as badly as he did because "I'd like my life back."
Even the British press, much more sympathetic to the company's plight, has expressed disbelief at its media strategy.
"It is hard to recall a more catastrophically mishandled public relations response to a crisis than the one we are witnessing," the Daily Telegraph's Jeremy Warner wrote Friday.
That was before news about the yacht race broke but after the chief executive made his appearance before a U.S. House investigations panel in which he dodged question after question, claiming he was out of the loop on decisions surrounding the well that blew when the Deepwater Horizon exploded.
President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, called Hayward's decision to attend the yacht race a public relations fiasco and told ABC's "This Week," that Hayward had "got his life back."
"I think we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting," he said in an interview taped Saturday.
Mr. Obama has also struggled to counter criticism of how his administration has handled the disaster. Up to 120 million gallons of oil has already gushed into the Gulf.
Crude has been washing up from Louisiana to Florida, killing birds and fish, coating delicate marshes and wetlands and covering pristine beaches with tar balls.
A pair of relief wells that won't be done until August is the best bet to stop the massive spill. By late June, BP hopes a newly expanded containment system can keep nearly 90 percent of the flow from the broken pipe from hitting the ocean.
But the buzz Saturday on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook was all about Hayward's yacht outing, with many noting that Gulf residents want their lives back too.
It was not clear whether Hayward took part in the race, which he attended with son, or was just a spectator. His boat finished fourth in its class. It often costs tens of thousands of dollars (pounds) to equip a yacht for a race as competitive as the Isle of Wight.
Meanwhile, environmentalists and local officials along the Gulf were infuriated by Hayward's weekend plans.
"I'm glad Mr. Hayward is on a yacht, because he certainly hasn't been helping us," said Robert Craft, the mayor of Gulf Shores, Ala. Officials on the Alabama coast estimate tourism is down about 50 percent because of the spill.
Questions remained about whether Hayward is still in charge of the cleanup effort. BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg seemed to suggest Friday that he was being withdrawn from the front line of the response.
"It is clear that Tony has made remarks that have upset people," Svanberg told Sky News television, adding that Hayward was "now handing over" daily operations to BP Managing Director Bob Dudley.
But BP spokeswoman Sheila Williams said Svanberg was misunderstood and that only a transition to Dudley, an American with 30 years in the oil business, had begun.
"Hayward is very much in charge until we've stopped the leak," she told the AP on Saturday.
BP, Britain's largest company before the oil rig exploded, has lost about 45 percent of its value since then - a drop has alarmed millions of British retirees whose pension funds hold BP stock. Just this week, BP announced that it was canceling its quarterly dividend.
Popular on CBSNews.com
- Toronto mayor: I don't smoke crack cocaine
- Photos of the week 22 Photos
- 2 men from diverted Pakistani flight into U.K. arrested
- Graphic video: Man dead in "truly shocking" London attack Play Video
- Bangladesh slum life 13 Photos
- Deadly car bombing at aid group's house in Kabul
- Muslim hard-liners ID suspect in London attack
- Former sex slaves: Osaka mayor should quit
Most Popular
-
01
-
02
-
03
-
04
-
05
Most Shared
Most Discussed
until you elitist overly-educated under-performing communists have anything that actually is capable of replacing oil & gas, just shut the *&#@ up & consider doing something - anything constructive.
as a reminder, solar & wind account for not more than 1/2 of 1% of our current requirements.
oh...additionally as a reminder, sometimes the wind does not blow & sometimes the sun does not shine.
so, i know that all this blabber about ending the oil age is just drivel from the extreme radicals that will not be chanting with glee and pounding on their drums until they regress us back to the stone-age.
have a nice day.
progress begins nov. 2, 2010.
Again, it's just another reminder that we need to put more faith in both our State and local government/leaders instead of the wealthy/Washington, DC. elite!
During the past 60 days of the oil spill President Obama:
Went touring the nation in an attempt to sell his agenda, then vacation, then throwing an expensive party in Washington, then condemning Arizona Americans for trying to protect themselves from illegal immigrants, and finally going around the country campaigning - now he is suing Arizona Americans and taking the side of illegal immigrants. It took him 12 days to even visit the Gulf, and he didn't go back there until day 39. Does this sound like someone who is taking charge and dealing with this disaster?
For weeks the Governor of Louisiana begged the President for help in building sand bars to protect the marshes and coast of the state. The President did nothing but jabber about the oil spill being the responsibility of BP. However, during a disaster the President DOES have responsibility to protect people and property. President Obama should have done as the Governor asked, protected the coast, and then sent BP the bill.
Now the President is declaring a moratorium on deep water drilling in the Gulf. One well, out of many, is poorly designed and poorly operated - the MMS federal agency approved the poor design and failed to properly inspect the well - so the President wants to stop all oil production from the other deep water oil wells.
BP screwed up - the federal MMS agency screwed up - but shutting down the rest of the deep water wells (run by other more responsible companies) is irresponsible. Green technology CAN NOT produce the energy needs of our nation, at this time. We are dependent on oil.
To stop the drilling would result in the following:
1) The US would be even more dependent on middle-eastern countries for our fuel.
2) One out of ten people in this nation are without work. To force oil workers out of work would add to the horrible unemployment problem.
3) The lack of oil jobs in the gulf coast region would further economically cripple an area of the nation which is already suffering due to the oil on the coast.
4) The price of oil products would sky rocket. Americans are already hurting.
5) The US would be crippled regarding our production which is based on oil use. We are already in a recession.
I am ticked at the screw up by BP - and I am greatly disappointed at how our President has, and continues, to screw up in his handling of the disaster.
What were the engineering recommendations and basis.
Were the engineers incorrect or did some other decision maker make them go with the improper materials against their best wisdom?
Yes. BP needs to be held accountable and pay the costs, financial and prison, if appropriate.
While everyone points the fingers at the ceo and his still having a life, remember, he only delegates and many others are actively actual moment to moment, day to day operations. No different than any corporate structure.
Hopefully this will be resolved soon and from it much more advanced prevention and clearup technologies will develop and create new jobs.
He's running around with his yacht buddies, not his family.
Let's say you (BP) are in a auto accident and the person you hit is seriously hurt (The Gulf).
Now, we do not know yet who was a fault because there has not been an official trial. We do not know or if you did anything against the law, but the police (Obama) come to your house and demand that you give them 1 million dollars to cover the law suite that will be.
They do this because they know you are guilty, all with out a trial.
I thought in our country you were innocent until proven guilty.
Wake up Neo.