June 9, 2010; Source: AOLNews.com | We admit to feeling uncomfortable reporting on this news item in the context of the wildly inappropriate PR and disinformation campaign waged by BP oil since the very start of the spill. On June 8th, BP issued a press release that declared that the net proceeds from selling the oil that is being siphoned from the biggest oil spill in history will be donated to a fund to protect area wildlife. It is not clear what the final size of the donation might be but according to this article “if the company is siphoning about 15,000 barrels of oil a day from the spill—its current claim—at price of $74 a barrel, gross daily revenue from the recovered oil would be $1.11 million. Subtracting the 18.75 percent BP owes the federal government in royalties and the 35 percent of the oil that belongs to the well’s co-owners, BP’s gross donation would come to $586,218 a day.” Apparently the clock will stop on the donations when “the MC252 well is killed and oil is no longer coming from this source.” BP is already considered a responsible party under the Oil Protection Act and is required to fund clean up and restoration of wildlife in the region affected by the oil spill. BP says that money committed to this fund will be over and above those costs.—Ruth McCambridge