Federal lawyers have begun making their case for adding some $13.7 billion in penalties to costs already incurred by BP after the 2010 Gulf oil spill.
The Associated Press reports pictures of fouled beaches and dead, oil-coated birds flashed on a courtroom screen in New Orleans this morning as Justice Department attorney Steven O’Rourke outlined the case the government will present in the three-week trial. O’Rourke says the economic, environmental and social effects the spill had on Gulf Coast communities warrant maximum penalties.
In arguing for a lower penalty, BP points to $42 billion in costs it already has incurred. Those include a $14 billion response and cleanup effort after the disaster at the Macondo well. O’Rourke also maintains Anadarko, a minority partner in the Macondo well, should pay more than $1 billion in penalties.
Bloomberg, meanwhile, is reporting this morning that the trial likely will not last the full three weeks scheduled, as a settlement appears likely,
“There’s a very good chance—about 75%—that they’ll settle,” David Berg, a Houston trial attorney who has been following the litigation, tells Bloomberg.
Even if the case doesn’t settle before a trial verdict, BP probably won’t face a maximum fine, Berg says. He estimates the range likely will be from $8 billion to $10 billion.
Even a fine of that size would be the largest civil penalty under the Clean Water Act, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The current record is the $1 billion settlement Transocean Ltd., which owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that burned and sank in the Gulf spill, reached with the U.S. in 2013. Read the full story.
