VENICE, La., July 30 (UPI) -- BP chief Tony Hayward defended his response to the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, saying he was demonized from the get-go.
"I became a villain for doing the right thing," Hayward said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "But I understand that people find it easier to vilify an individual more than a company".
Hayward, who is stepping down Oct. 1, said he did everything possible once the oil rig exploded and sank in April by taking responsibility for the spill, and spending billions of dollars to stop the spewing oil and clean up the shoreline, the Journal reported Friday.
Eleven rig workers died in the explosion that has become the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.
BP officials said the first step in a weeks-long process of killing the crippled well could begin as soon as Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported.
UPI
