September 14, 2013

Feds eye billions in fines in Deepwater Horizon trial

By Bruce Thompson
The federal government is eying billions of dollars in penalties to extract from BP for the Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill. Depending on the verdict in a trial underway determining the number of barrels spilled, the fine could vary between 3.3 and 14.1 billion dollars. In order to follow the money you've got to follow the trial. At the end of the month, the Deepwater Horizon trial moves to the next phase, determining the efficacy of the source control efforts and the total size of the spill. BP and the government have significantly differing estimates as to the amount of oil spilled. From the New Orleans Times Picayune we get this assessment. With a high-stakes trial set to resume in less than a month, BP and the federal government on Thursday offered conflicting estimates of how much oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico after the blowout of the company's Macondo well triggered a deadly explosion. In a court filing, BP urges U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier to use an estimate of...(Read Full Article)