"BP trying to sink oil to save money"

"Using the dispersants allows the oil to stay under the surface and this accomplishes several purposes....It makes it a lot more difficult to quantify the amount of oil that's coming out, which has a direct impact on damages and royalties that have to be paid; it keeps it out of sight and out of mind; and it allows BP to amortize the cost of the cleanup over several years -- 10 to 15 years -- because some of this oil is going to biodegrade but a lot of that oil is going to roll up on the beaches for 10 or 15 years. And if they can amortize that over 10 or 15 years as opposed to dealing with that over the next 15 months, that's a much better financial position for BP to be in." -- Fred McCallister, VP, Allegiance Capital Corporation