BP’s corporate social irresponsibility

In 2005 dozens of BP employees were killed or injured by a terrible explosion and fire at a refinery in Texas that an investigation concluded was caused in part by corporate negligence.  Management lapses were also cited in connection with a 200,000 barrel oil leak from a BP pipeline in Alaska the following year. Critics alleged the blunders were inevitable after Browne’s cost-cutting moves, again in pursuit of maximizing profits, when he fired long-time and knowledgeable Amoco and Arco managers. In the aftermath of the two accidents BP claimed it had reformed and was now “focusing like a laser” on safety, all the while continuing to shield itself from critics by boasting of its CSR-endowed rectitude. Then came the worst oil spill in world history.

And what of BP’s erstwhile CSR allies in Washington? While working to demonize the company and thereby try to deflect their own culpability for the spill, they are also taking advantage of the crisis to push for new tax burdens on BP’s U.S.-based competitors – a move which would give the foreign-owned firm a leg up on companies not responsible for the worst environmental catastrophe in America’s history.

Apparently there is no honor among thieves.

Meanwhile faceless, colorless executives at other major world oil companies continue the true legacy of petroleum pioneers such as BP’s Lord Cowdray as they meticulously and steadily do their jobs to produce petroleum products safely and efficiently. Stodgy old oil companies such as ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco will never make it into the CSR Hall of Fame, but in learning and implementing safety reforms after the terrible Exxon Valdez accident decades ago, they also have avoided the headlines BP has earned lately.

Ironically BP’s fixation with CSR and its green drive to get “beyond petroleum” led it to give short shrift to crucial management responsibilities and to forget exactly why BP was in business in the first place. Tragically for us all, now it is petroleum that has been beyond the reach of BP.

James M. Roberts is Research Fellow for Economic Freedom and Growth in the Center for International Trade and Economics at The Heritage Foundation.