Was BP grossly negligent in Deepwater Horizon spill?
Friday, July 30, 2010 at 2:09 pm
- 1 Comment
Whether BP will be found “grossly negligent” in its handling of the Deepwater Horizon rig is one of the next big questions in the saga of the Gulf oil spill. To meet that standard, BP would have had to ignore various safety regulations. If that’s the case, the company will be charged $4,300 for every barrel that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico after the April rig explosion. If they are not found to be in violation of regulations, the company will be charged $1,100 per barrel, the Houston Chronicle notes.
Courts have yet to decide whether BP was grossly negligent, but speculation is rampant.
If you believe Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), the company believes the decision will come down against it, and that’s why executives have said it will pay “all legitimate claims,” well beyond the $75 billion economic claims cap.
According to a letter from Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott, via the Chronicle:
The truth is that BP has not asserted the cap because it acknowledged that evidence would reveal that the explosion and resulting spill were the product of gross negligence — which renders the statutory cap irrelevant. We know this because, during a conference call with Gulf Coast attorneys general, BP General Counsel Jack Lynch acknowledged that gross negligence would be revealed as a cause of the explosion that led to the oil spill.
The Chronicle reports that BP executives have said they believe the company will not be found grossly negligent and a BP spokesperson says Perry’s assertion is “incorrect.”
1 Comment
Comment posted July 30, 2010 @ 10:42 pm
Maybe. I have no love for BP, but it would be in everyone’s interest, including BP’s to have a grand jury (preferably Federal) or other investigative body review all of the evidence and determine if there is evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
It seems that nobody these days wants to have an airing of the Truth. I believe Bush and Cheney should have been impeached and indicted for war crimes. The Democrats took any investigation “off the table” but completely missed the point of any investigation. The purpose of any honest investigation is not to get even with your enemies but to get to the truth of the matter. In a way, by taking impeachment “off the table” and not suggesting anything else, the Democratic leadership signalled that “yes, any investigation would be a witch hunt and an attempt to get revenge.”
Investigating suspected wrongdoing is not “getting revenge” and the Democratic leadership (not to be confused with us lefties who would like to see some Truth emerge) sent to wrong message by eschewing this legitimate and respectable tool. By trying to avoid looking partisan, they came across as partisan!
Okay, if we’re not going to seek an indictment of Bush and Cheney and their lot, are we going to have at least some sort of truth commission to find out what happened? And to put the past to rest? South Africa (!!!) had the Truth Commission investigations where the most heinous and foul crimes and abuses were confessed, under the shield of immunity. I heard of a South African woman who took an Afrikaaner man who had murdered her son in a brutal way embrace this man in forgiveness after he confessed his crime and sin.
You get my point.
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