Transocean_explosion

With the Transocean oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico expected to exceed the Exxon Valdez spill, it doesn’t look like anyone over at the federal government is keen on handing over any safety awards to BP. In fact, BP should probably forget about safety awards for the next few years.

The Interior Department was expected to host an event today to honor BP and other companies for its safety efforts, but the agency has changed its mind. The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Services was expected to host the event today and BP was up for two awards at the event. One of the awards was for “outstanding safety and pollution prevention performance.” Obviously, that seems like a sick joke now that we have 5,000 barrels of oil a day being pumped into the Gulf of Mexico from the leaking oil well.

According to the Minerals Management Services, the agency has dedicated far too many resources to the cleanup efforts after the Transocean oil rig explosion, and will not be able to go ahead with the event. Obviously, with the size of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico as it is now, fishing communities facing destruction, and no end to cleanup efforts in sight, it would have been ridiculous to give BP any kind of award at all.

The award is also probably the last thing on BPs mind. The company announced this week that it would pay for all the cleanup costs associated with the massive oil leak in the Gulf Mexico.

As a footnote, the big winner of the SAFE award at last year’s event was Transocean. That’s right – the same company that owned the Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible rig that sank after a deadly explosion last month.