Many Northeast Ohioans are angry with BPs failure to stop the oil surging from its shattered well in the Gulf of Mexico and some are boycotting BP gas stations.
Their actions are part of a grass-root reaction that has popped up sporadically around the nation, spawning picketing in some cities and a lot of Internet furor.
“If there’s a BP on the corner and three other gas stations, I’ll go to the other gas stations,” said Carrie Milnes of Austintown, who was at the Tayeh Valero gas station on Chester Ave. on Friday
“They’re ruining the environment, and BP hasn’t really done much to help the people down there who are out of work because of them,” said Milnes.
“I haven’t bought BP gas and I don’t intend to buy BP gas. Period. That’s it,” she said.
But the problem is that boycotting BP doesn’t directly hurt the oil giant because it does not own any of the 580 BP stations in Ohio. It has sold them to local franchise owners and regional wholesale suppliers.
“We employ 750 people, and we want to grow,” said Gregg Budoi, president and CEO of EZ Energy USA in Cleveland, which owns 78 BP stations in Ohio, including 41 in Greater Cleveland.
He hasn’t seen any mass boycotts, but said he is worried. “The more people see oil on the Gulf Coast and birds and fish being affected, the more this will grow,” he said.
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Article courtesy cleveland.com
