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BP Faces $18 Billion Fine For "Gross Negligence" In Gulf Of Mexico Spill
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans ruled today that BP was "grossly negligent" in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and may face up to $18 billion in civil penalties, according to The WSJ. In addition, Transocean and Halliburton were found 'negligent' - a lessor offense - (fines up to $1,100 per barrel for 'negligence', $4,300 for 'gross negligence'). This result comes 2 years after BP agreed to accept criminal responsibility for the disaster and to pay $4.5 billion in fines and restitution. BP quickly issued a statement that it will appeal the decision and believes the findings "are not supported by evidence at trial."
As Bloomberg reports,
In a turning point after four years of legal wrangling over responsibility, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier’s ruling laid the bulk of the blame on BP for the explosion, which killed 11 men and caused the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
BP, which has spent more than $28 billion on the accident so far, is exposed to as much as $18 billion in additional government fines and penalties.
The judge found co-defendants Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton Co. less responsible for the spill.
“BP’s conduct was reckless,” Barbier wrote in a decision today in New Orleans federal court. “Transocean’s conduct was negligent. Halliburton’s conduct was negligent.”
The costs:
- *BP: STATUTORY SIMPLE NEGLIGENCE MAX. PENALTY $1,100 PER BARREL
- *BP: STATUTORY GROSS NEGLIGENCE MAX. PENALTY $4,300 PER BARREL
- *BP SAYS COURT HAS NOT YET RULED ON NUMBER OF BARRELS SPILLE
BP's statement includes:
- *BP DISAGREES W/ DECISION ISSUED TODAY
- *BP REVIEWING DECISION
- *BP WILL ISSUE A FURTHER STATEMENT `AS SOON AS POSSIBLE'
- *BP BELIEVES FINDING IS NOT `SUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE AT TRIAL'
- *BP TO APPEAL IN U.S. COURT
Statement on Gulf of Mexico
BP strongly disagrees with the decision issued today by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and will immediately appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
BP believes that the finding that it was grossly negligent with respect to the accident and that its activities at the Macondo well amounted to willful misconduct is not supported by the evidence at trial. The law is clear that proving gross negligence is a very high bar that was not met in this case. BP believes that an impartial view of the record does not support the erroneous conclusion reached by the District Court.
The Court has not yet ruled on the number of barrels spilled and no penalty has yet been determined. The District Court will hold additional proceedings, which are currently scheduled to begin in January 2015, to consider the application of statutory penalty factors in assessing a per-barrel Clean Water Act penalty. The Clean Water Act requires the District Court to consider a number of factors in determining an appropriate penalty. The statutory maximum penalty is $1,100 per barrel where the court finds simple negligence and $4,300 per barrel where the court finds gross negligence or willful misconduct. During the penalty proceedings, BP will seek to show that its conduct merits a penalty that is less than the applicable maximum after application of the statutory factors.
BP is reviewing the decision and will issue a further statement as soon as possible.
* * *
And it appears January 2015
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JAIL TIME PLEASE.....
Anyone wonder who gets the money from these rulings and settlements?
Don't like BP so much but the money grab continues. Jail time would be a better deterrent.
Ahh for the good ol' days.
Wondered why BP was running all those "feel good" ads on TV.
The Gulf of Mexico Is Still Dying: A Special Update On The BP Gulf Oil Spill
If the 18 billion is ever collected, where does the money go? To buy more military equipment for the police? Buy more bombs to drop on brown people? To fund more golf outings for president dirtbag?
What a donkey show.
Edit: Ying Yang beat me to it.
This $18B fine looks to me like an effort by the regime to kill off-shore drilling around the US. The regime wants the US to remain dependent on imported oil.
Forward (over the cliff)!
There is a statue outside of the office building where I work to the men that died that day on the Deepwater Horizon... BP should be made to pay every penny of the ruling... They knew what they were doing that day, they cut corners and people died...
Careful, safety regulations and minimum engineering standards go against the die-hard lib-terian ethic here on ZH. The government should just mind their own business and let oil companies kill as many people as they want with half ass construction jobs so we can live in total freedom.
True, we should implement "total regulation" in pursuit of eliminating the .0001% of wells that have failed. Works in North Korea...no wells fail there because they have none.
.
BP will pay off with airline miles. The miles are subject to blackouts and expire within a year.
Anybody here mind if I just scream FUUUUUUCKKK?
While I am Not in favor of a free-ride for BP, keep in mind that EVERY step/procedure of that well (even the permit to drill in a gas rich area, which leads to more "kicking" and well control issues) was APPROVED and STAMPED by the Gov. Agencies that oversee the industry.
Yes, the same Gov. that collects fines.
Working in the Offshore industry, I, like everybody else, get to pay for this shit at the pump, with their taxes for these moronic regulators who don't know jack-shit about drilling, and in my case the wage cuts caused directly by Obama and his pen shutting down the Gulf.
Try this on for size. Let's say you rent property, and some ass-clown meth-head cook Blows Up his rented property 500 miles away.
Now say Obummer gets out his pen and signs papers saying you must continue paying your lease, but can NOT use the property for it's intended purpose as per the original lease agreement.
Welcome to the fuckin oilfield.
No, actually they shouldn't. Because the money is NOT going to the families, is it? And it's not going back to the taxpayers, either, with representation, is it? It's not being used for cleanup either, I'd bet. Rather, it's being plundered by the government for their pet projects and treasury raiding parties for failed projects that funnel money to the elitists. They hope for stuff like this.
Maybe, just maybe they'll use it to pay IRS Worker Bonus Pay.
Right ... coz a fine for littering is doled out to kill eating in public.
They fail to mention the unrelenting amount of crap going into the Gulf from the Mississippi River. The Gulf had the skull and crossbones all over it even BEFORE the BP spill.
The problem with limited liability companies is that no one in the current environment is willing to jail the executives.
Take away the limitation of liabilities (and send C-level execs to a JAIL like Huntsville [Texas])and corporate environments / ethical practices would clean up overnight.
If I did that as an officer of my company, I would go to jail and not pass go.
This is just extortion plain, and simple, if BP was broke there would be jail time.
The corporate shield is bullishit at the bottom rungs of the ladder.
The BP Gulf Oil Spill Info Blackout And Data Lockdown
Another stuxnet false flag. How many wells in the gulf were drilled going back to Carter and even Nixon without ever having a major blow out? 10,000 wells?
Oh but they hit a high pressure hot well and all the safety stuff on teh drill head failed. Yeah sure.
Thank you for calling it what it was - a blowout.
Those who insist on calling it a spill are covering-up the truth. Even a high school dropout knows the difference.
One who told the truth unfortunately owned and used a hot tub.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoKSh14l_Ko
RIP Matt Simmons.
next steps:
appeal denied; judgment stands.
BP puts itself up for full or partial asset sale. (how those assets will be handled is also an important question to ask of the new owners...)
are cameron and obama on the phone now discussing terms of a deal? how does nieto come to play in this frame, if it all?
@HamRove:
Why "jail time"? Because it's big, bad oil?
I have the feeling that if I was killed in an industrial accident, even if there was gross negligence my widow wouldn't get $billions.
...Oh. I forgot. The widows don't get the loot...
I thought BP already paid Obama directly? Wasn't that a thing?
The problem with hush money is that the person collecting can come back for more at any time. Pay the mafia once and they come back over and over again for more "protection" money.
Election coming in 2016 and those advertisements dont pay for themselves....
Same with the banks, same with GM....etc.
Bottom line is these businesses are all but "nationalized" when Pooh-Bear can reach in for honey when he wants. FU Bees
BP says no evidenceof negligence? the evidence was in the water and all over the fucking place
Negligence is a legal term requiring proof - supply some
Halliburton (true culprit) gets a slap on the wrist while BP gets the death penalty.
"Big Swinging Dick" Cheney has his uses
DC
The devil's plaything
The US just trying to milk as much money as possible from a foreign company
If you think this is bad, you should try being a US company selling products in China.
Last I heard was that 60% of the company was owned by Goldman Sachs, or did they sell out already?
All paths lead to Israel, as they say.
I'm sure there are clawback provisions on the CEO's bonus...NOT.
If it wasnt gross negligence then what the fuck was it? An act of God? How big a blob of shit is sitting on the bottom of the Gulf?
They all float down here. [/Pennywise]
That'll teach Cameron to be a lickspittle. Time for BP to split and put part into Rosneft and spin off assets into multiple companies so they can declare the Halliburton-BP businesses insolvent.
Pretty obvious they would shake down BP before Halliburton or the rig operators running over Swiss shells.
Europeans are stupid to work inside the USA which is like Nigeria with more white settlers but a similar approach to payoffs and shakedowns.
Brazen Petroleum announced it forgot to Bribe & Procure the votes of the eastern district court of Louisiana,like it has with Bought & Paid for politicians.
Bloody Psychopaths (corexit'd it for ya).
That’s going to hurt. I hope we American Citizens get the opportunity to bailout BP and any other oil company negatively impacted by their own negligence.
Go Israel!
Let's see, what would sound like a "big number" to the masses? Hmmm, how about $18bn.
Fuckall. Wake me up when there is an actual penalty.
You don't "paid" Obama you "pay" Obama, preferably weekly, (its a "program" like Cable TV or a cellular contract) continuously, he's for rent not sale, even Muslims have to pay Obama for air cover (every time).
BP's CEO sold BP down the river like chattel cuz he was an Obama lover leftist, and as far as Lousiana legalities go, it will all be thrown out at the federal appeals level-like the endless bogus settlements (which they are now recovering).
BP wasn't negligent, in offshore anything shit happens, we got 350,000,000 million people to fuel, that doesn't come without "shit happening", BP paid in blood and treasure, everybody else "harmed" was made whole.
Im waiting for the point where govt can get settlements and there does not really need to be a reason. Example Toledo ID decides they have a revenue shortfall. They sue BP and the local magistrate rules in their favor.
Maybe there can be a corporate "fast pass" to pay all of your settlements in one easy monthly payment....oh wait, is that called Taxes?
<=== Just a cost of doing business
<=== Non-recurring item add back
Yes it is a trick question!
New American financial policy "Just fine your way out of debt".
.....passed on to the consumer.
Thanks.
Lokks like you 'mericans are swimming in your own corporate feases over there in the land of the free running profit sewer. "Gulf of teenaged Mexican border crashers" lol.
Time for another gin & ginger!
speling bees harderer den chit (aka 'feases' sic), eh?
what about the motherfuckers that poored millions of liters of corexit in GOM !? (bought to a caompany belonging to a rotchild...)
this shit is much worst than oil (& possibly detroyed the gulf stream)
Red Tide inTheSoup man. Swim for it! You can make it.
Va va va VOOM bitchez!
USF Current Map of Midweek Red Tide counts - September 3, 2014
http://myfwc.com/media/2877539/Midweek09-02-14.pdf
Nothing going wrong there......
More money for the Barack Hussein Obama Golf Tour
You have to be fucking kidding? This was a act of nature. What next, another muti-dollar settle with Toyota humming down the road due to a floor mat
These attorneys are why United States of America is so fucked up.
While you're out chuckling about how much money you made off the Toyota scam. Watch out for snipper riffles hitting you, causing your foot to hit the acceleration pedal and speed to your???
You're sick motherfuckers. Laugh your way to the nearest dirt nap.
Advice, stop this insanity to reap rewards by sueing and having the taxpayers settle the bill. You scam by lawyer commission fee from the state and county budget. Start working Pro Bono and do your job in enforcing the law. That's why you pursued a Degree under the BAR Association.
Or did you aquire your degree to fuck up protecting constitutional laws and become a criminal in broad daylight? Simple question.
18 Billion for Holder to pass out to a string of great organizations....
This is just a feeding frenzy for the law firms involved. Not everyone gets rich in crony capitalism by holding shares, you know..
The problem can be cleaned up with enough bleach:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ee0_1349946618&comments=1
This could out a bit of a strain on the "special relationship" between the USA and UK. The UK's largest and most iconic company gets squeezed by the USA court system.
I bet Bathhouse Barry is telling Dave to swallow every drop under the NATO conference table today. If Dave is a good little poodle, Barry just might let him slide on a few billion of the fine as long he puts Brit troops on the front lines against ISIS and the Russkies.
Game-set-match. The Empire wins again.
All political. BP has joint ventures in Russia.
That's great, 18 Billion $ to the asset forfeiture fund to be blown on bribes, blow and whores.
Well maybe not on b,b&w per se, but discretionary for some senior executive service bureaucrat to blow outside the benefit of the taxpayer or other damaged parties. The public will never benefit from a dime of it.
Who in their right mind still eats seafood caught Anywhere in the GOM?
Gulf of Mexico DEAD, thanks B-P
Pacific Ocean Dying thanks Tepco
Africa facing ebola horrors... thanks WHO and all others who talk a game but do nothing
America overthrows elected govt in Ukraine by proxy and now seeking hot war w/Russia.
Yep. Sure looks like the goal is that 95% planetary population reduction that so many of the Great Brains claim we need...
Kudos to the Judge...
However should BP find a way to contribute handsomely to some the DNC and regulators before the election the fine may be dramatically decreased.
Coming from an ocean near you ...
Preview for paranoids : see
http://andreswhy.blogspot.com/2010/09/mexican-gulf-oil-spill.html
Another transfer of wealth to "the people", although I doubt they'll include any of it in your tax return...
The army must keep that money cause I aint seen a nickel of that $18 billion.
There we go with the oiled up bird picture. But ignore the thousands of birds hacked up by windmills, because that's more politically correct.
Why are gas prices $3.50 a gallon? Here is your answer. All of this cost is built into your gas prices, whether your favorite oil company actually spilled or blowed out or ran a tanker aground in Alaska or spilled oil from a train across an entire town in North Dakota. It is these activist judges and juries with obscene awards that either get paid - or that require preventive measures and a fleet of lawyers to keep such awards from happening in the future. Want cheaper coffee at Mickey D's - you can't have it when someone gets $2 million for spilling hot coffee in their lap. Want cheaper healthcare? Sorry. We need a fleet of lawyers, administrative staff, medical records workers, lab and diagnostic technicians, triage staff, and IT staff - oh yea, and a doc somewhere late in the process.
The ones who always get paid - from both sides are the lawyers.