Cohen Calls on BP to Suspend Dividend Payments and Marketing Campaigns

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After BP announced its intention to move forward with a payment to shareholders, Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) joined a coalition of House members led by Congressman Peter Welch (D-VT) in calling on CEO Tony Hayward to suspend dividend payments and advertising campaigns until it remedies the environmental disaster it caused in the Gulf of Mexico.

In a letter to Hayward, the House members took BP to task for diverting its resources away from the ongoing recovery effort and directing them to halt profit payouts and public relations campaigns.

BP announced Tuesday morning that it would move forward with an annual $10 billion dividend payment announced a week after the Deepwater Horizon explosion. According to news reports, the company also has launched a $50 million television advertisement campaign, along with full-page ads in major newspapers.

Members signing the letter included: Reps. Peter Welch, Ed Markey, Lois Capps, John Hall, Paul Tonko, Bill Delahunt, Chris Van Hollen, Steven Rothman, Jim Langevin, Tim Bishop, Raul Grijalva, James McGovern, Maurice Hinchey, Charlie Melancon, Betty Sutton, Pete Stark, Frank Pallone, Doris O. Matsui, Jan Schakowsky, Jared Polis, Mazie K. Hirono, Steve Israel, Russ Carnahan, Jackie Speier, Chet Edwards, John Olver, Rush Holt, Dennis Cardoza, Earl Pomeroy, Keith Ellison, Louise Slaughter, Mike Michaud, Steve Cohen, Bill Owens, Ron Kind, Rosa L. DeLauro, Anna G. Eshoo, George Miller, Bob Filner, Sander M. Levin, Ben Ray Luján, Leonard Boswell, Mike Honda, Ed Pastor, Jim McDermott, John A. Yarmuth, Deborah L. Halvorson, Phil Hare, and Charles A. Wilson.

The following is a copy of the letter:

Tony Hayward
Chief Executive Officer
BP
1 St James's Square
London
SW1Y 4PD

Dear Mr. Hayward,

As BP presides over one of the greatest environmental and economic catastrophes of our time, we find it troubling that your company plans to divert financial resources to shareholder dividends and slick marketing campaigns.

Even as oil threatens to flow into the Gulf of Mexico for months to come, press reports indicate that you hope to distribute $10 billion in dividends to shareholders before the full cost of this devastating oil spill is known. At the same time, your company has launched an aggressive public relations campaign, with full page ads in major newspapers and a reported $50 million television blitz.

We urge you to halt your planned dividend payout and cancel your advertising campaign until you have done the hard work of capping the well, cleaning up the Gulf Coast and making whole those whose very livelihoods are threatened by this catastrophe. Not a moment before then should you return to business as usual.