Transocean Executives Donate Controversial 'Safety' Bonuses To Fund For Gulf Oil Rig Victims' Families

SAN FRANCISCO -- Executives at the offshore drilling contractor at the center of last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill are donating bonuses they got for the company's safety record last year.

The decision announced Tuesday comes just days after Transocean Ltd. disclosed the bonuses deep in a regulatory filing, triggering intense criticism.

Transocean justified the bonuses by calling 2010 an "exemplary" year for safety – despite the explosion on its rig that killed 11 people and spilled 200 million gallons of oil.

CEO Steven Newman and four other executives are now donating bonuses worth more than $250,000 to a fund set up by Transocean for the victims' families.

Newman says it was never the executives' intent to diminish the effect the disaster has had on those who lost loved ones.

Comments

[deminmo]

01:03 PM on 04/08/2011

Did these folks decide to donate before or after
Rachel Maddow had this on her show?

[onefuncapt]

12:05 AM on 04/08/2011

Most people will read just the headline and say "That is the right thing to do, how human of them" and won't read the rest of the story. These guys are no better than Wall St *ssholes and insurance company executives. What slimeballs they are!!!

[socaltriton]

03:39 PM on 04/07/2011

Wow, about $25k per body, how generous.

[BPGulfLeak]

10:41 AM on 04/07/2011

Ahem. They are donating 25% of their bonuses. Why are they getting credit for donating all of them? Bob Cavnar covered it:

"Yesterday, the company belatedly apologized for the gaffe, announcing that the senior executives of the company will donate the safety portion of their bonuses to the Deepwater Horizon Memorial Fund totaling about $250,000. To be clear, they are donating only their safety portion of the bonus. They are keeping the rest of their compensation, totaling over $19 million. How generous." http://dailyhurricane.com/2011/04/transocean-execs-shamed-into-donating-safety-bonuses.html

[dayzee10]

08:19 AM on 04/07/2011

Bonuses? They should be indicted for 11 counts of voluntary manslaughter!

[mgrant33301]

07:11 AM on 04/07/2011

public relations. nothing more than public relations.

after THE worst oil disaster in the history of the US, they get a bonus?
it would have been smarter to call it an inflation hedge, or something more creative.

[WoodyCPM]

05:03 AM on 04/07/2011

$250K? That's all they got? What kind of bonus is that? No matter what the motivation, at least the right thing has been done. Hopefully, that represents the full amount of the safety bonus and they're not being paid an additional 4 or 5 million through some other means for the same reason. The executives have done what is only decent.

[juneliaw]

04:26 AM on 04/07/2011

Hoping this is true

[mratcheson]

01:05 AM on 04/07/2011

Ok, the bonuses were nuts, but good for the executives to donate them to the people whose loved ones perished. Unfortunately, no donations will ever repair our planet, but their hearts seem to be going in the direction of the right place..... Perhaps their future corporate policies will be more in line with what is best for us all. We can only hope.

[ShinjiIkari]

12:59 AM on 04/07/2011

Who writes TransOcean's press releases--George Frickin' Orwell??!!

[citizenkan]

10:03 PM on 04/06/2011

If 2010 was an "exemplary" year for safety - what do their bad years look like?

[hjluck]

08:55 PM on 04/06/2011

It saddens me when I think of the damage caused by the oil rig not being properly inspected & managed. And to think they were given a "safety" award that same year is sickening... My son works at a facility on the Gulf Coast. The damage is vast. The damage is permanent.
However, even considering all of the above, I would still rather have a US company drilling in the Gulf Coast area than Cuba, as was just announced. Cuba, with so little experience will hardly have a better record than any US company. Moreover, any firm the US would consider letting any new drilling to occur at this point would be extremely scrutinized. Will Cuba? Hardly... So there is a real scenario here that we could even be buying oil from Cuba in the years to come.
Our leaders really have to start doing what they are getting paid to do. LEAD. Or others will...

[JustinKase]

05:45 PM on 04/06/2011

Can you say, 'tax shelter'?

[HUM-V]

04:01 PM on 04/06/2011

Well Done! TransOcean.

[Mattie]

06:07 PM on 04/06/2011

well done, they did it because of public outrage!

[BigDaddyWow]

08:46 PM on 04/06/2011

It was an accident and 11 of their people died.

[mjtaylor22]

03:55 PM on 04/06/2011

they basically wiped out business and wildlife inthe gulf coast.....how is that for safety...oh it is only one incident...compared tothe number of rigs they operate....