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Oil and Water Don’t Mix

BP (formerly British Petroleum) applied to drill for oil in the pristine natural zone known as the Great Australian Bight. The government authority had a number of environmental concerns, including the impact of an oil spill on the fragile marine ecosystem. In their response, BP said that would be OK. “Since there are no unresolved stakeholder concerns,” the company said, “BP interprets this event to be socially acceptable.” Not only that, BP said, but “in most instances, the increased activity associated with cleanup operations will be a welcome boost to local economies.” BP eventually dropped the plans to drill there, although other companies still retain titles in the bight. “Given the project did not proceed,” a BP spokeswoman said, “work on the draft environment plan ceased, so the correspondence in question doesn’t represent the final views of BP or the regulator.” (MS/Western Australia Today) ...Would dumping the oil in the CEO’s back yard be “socially acceptable”?