Ahh, Nalco. Such a truly wonderful chemical company you are. Making over $100 MILLION PER QUARTER in profits. And such a caring, environmentally and socially-conscious company, too.
Why, they only sold $40 MILLION worth of dispersants in one month. Heck that's nuthin'...
Okay, I take that back. That's not nuthin'. That's what the rest of us call "profiting from an environmental catastrophe". Nalco is not selling Corexit at cost (though I suppose that BP wishes they would.) They are making a profit on it. The $40 million they sold in the first month of the oil geyser opened up by their pals over at British Petroleum is 1% of their anticipated revenues for the entire year. From ONE PRODUCT. And Nalco has hundreds and hundreds of products. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about here. This one product is one that, unless I'm wildly off, barely registers as a blip on annual revenue spreadsheets in the files of Nalco.
But not this year. No, no, no. This year, they are going into overdrive to make as much Corexit as they can so that it can be then poured into the Gulf of Mexico.
Don't get me wrong. I am a chemist and I believe that the use of dispersants is a GOOD LEAST BAD THING, relatively speaking. Relative to the potential for raw crude oil washing up on our beaches and infiltrating the salt water marshes and estuaries along the Gulf coast. I think it IS better to disperse it so that it can be diluted and more quickly biodegraded. It's better than coating birds and animals and fish and other creatures of the sea in the thick, tar-like material erupting from the seabed.
But Nalco makes this claim (or some version of it) at a number of places on their website:
Corexit is safe and effective, but if there is a better dispersant for use in the Gulf, we would welcome its use in mitigating this environmental disaster. Our sole focus has been to assist responders and to support the work being done to limit the damage of this continuing oil spill.
Yeah? Really? But you're not so benevolent as to actually sell it at a slight loss or even at cost are you? No, you care deeply about the evironment but not so deeply that you're willing forgo some profits to prove it, I guess.
Well, at least they're donating $2 million to the Nalco Foundation. That's righteous of them.
Of course, I feel certain they'll take the tax credit that it earns them when they file their quarterly taxes. 'Cause that's how they roll.
I'm just sayin'...