The BP – PolyMet connection

Today, on the one-year anniversary of the catastrophic and tragic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, we learn that Tony “I want my life back” Hayward has joined Glencore, the company which has provided a large amount of the money to advance the PolyMet sulfide mining project in northern Minnesota. Reuters reports:

Hayward was dubbed “the most hated — and most clueless — man in America” by New York’s top-selling tabloid the Daily News following the April 20, 2010 blast, which killed 11 men and unleashed the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Public-relations gaffes such as saying he wanted his “life back” only stoked U.S. public and political anger, while BP was forced to take a $41 billion charge to cover the accident’s costs, and embark on a huge program of sell-offs.

But six months after stepping down as CEO, Hayward, 53, is in demand for his decades of oil-industry experience, his technical and management knowledge, and his contact book.

On Thursday Glencore, the commodity trader, said Hayward would serve as its “senior independent director” as it launched a flotation that could raise $12 billion. Veteran Hong Kong businessman Simon Murray will be chairman.

Even before bringing on Hayward, Glencore’s involvement in PolyMet had raised red flags based on the company’s past activities around the world:

PolyMet has gotten this far with financial backing from Glencore International AG — the target of some vehement criticism on several continents. Glencore is transforming itself into a publicly traded company.

The environmental organization WaterLegacy and environmental attorney Paula Maccabee have been looking at Glencore’s record. Maccabee doesn’t like what she sees, and she doesn’t mince words talking about it.

“We discovered to our chagrin that Glencore, the important financial partner of the PolyMet mine, has had the reputation of being the worst corporation on the globe,” Maccabee said. “We learned that the problems were economic, worker related problems, environmental harm, and in the case of a plant in France, the extraction of Glencore of the financial resources from its subsidiary, leaving a liability that the French government estimated at $400 million.”

The report describes serious problems with the Mopani copper mine in Zambia, Africa, 73 percent of which is owned by a Glencore subsidiary. According to the report, 71 miners lost their lives at that operation in 2005. The report also provides some details of serious environmental degradation from a pipe rupture and an acid spill there. It notes that mine lost 1,000 jobs in 2008 and 2009 as copper prices fluctuated.

The report also finds environmental degradation in northern Colombia coal mines operated by Glencore subsidiaries.