Gov't Still Buying Massive Amounts of Fuel From BP

As BP puts billions of dollars into the Gulf, the US government continues to put millions into its pockets. The Defense Department has maintained its purchase of massive amounts of fuel from the company, even as the Justice Department has launched criminal and civil investigations into the Gulf oil spill. The military also reportedly signed at least one "big contract" with BP after the explosion, says a rep for the company.

BP, the Pentagon's biggest supplier of fuel in 2009, has military contracts worth at least $980 million this year. The Washington Post reports that the EPA had begun to look into the idea of barring BP from making fuel sales to the government after a 2006 spill in Alaska; that review has been suspended to make way for the gulf spill investigations. A former EPA lawyer who was part of the review said said she was cautioned by a Defense Department official that US military forces in the Middle East relied on BP fuel, and was told by a source that "BP was supplying approximately 80% of the fuel being used to move US forces" there.