Well, It’s About Time! Justice Department Sues BP
Posted: December 15, 2010 Filed under: Gulf Oil Spill, New Orleans | Tags: BP oil spill, Eric Holder, Justice Department 27 Comments
Finally! The Justice Department (PDF) is suing BP and eight other companies over the Gulf oil spill. From the Financial Times
BP faces penalties of $21bn-plus if found fully liable for damages in a lawsuit over the oil accident in the Gulf of Mexico launched by the US government on Wednesday.
Any damages would be on top of the $20bn (£17bn) BP has agreed to pay into a fund to compensate people on the Gulf coast who have suffered financially because of the spill. The final damages figures depend on the US government’s ability to prove gross negligence.
[….]
The US Department of Justice announced that it was suing BP, along with Anadarko of the US and Mitsui of Japan, its partners in the disastrous Macondo well; Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig; and the QBE syndicate 1036 at Lloyd’s of London, which insured the rig.
Eric Holder, the US attorney-general, said: “We intend to prove that these defendants are responsible for government removal costs, economic losses and environmental damages without limitation.”
The lawsuit alleges that safety and operating regulations were violated in the period leading up to April 20.
It says that the defendants failed to keep the Macondo well under control during that period and failed to use the best available and safest drilling technology to monitor the well’s conditions. They also failed to maintain continuous surveillance and failed to maintain equipment and material that were available and necessary to ensure the safety and protection of personnel, equipment, natural resources and the environment, the suit charges.
Before Wednesday, potential class-action lawsuits had been filed in the Gulf oil spill by fishing and seafood interests, the tourism industry, restaurants and clubs, property owners losing vacation renters — even vacationers who claim the spill forced them to cancel and lose a deposit. So far, more than 300 suits have been spawned by the spill and consolidated in federal court in New Orleans.
Specifically, according to the Christian Science Monitor,
The complaint seeks to enforce provisions of the Oil Pollution Act, which government lawyers say provides for open-ended liability for pollution removal costs and other damages.
The lawsuit alleges that the companies failed to take necessary precautions to keep the oil well under control in the period leading up to the explosion. The companies also failed to rely on the best available and safest drilling technology, the suit says.
In addition, the companies are accused of failing to maintain continuous surveillance of the drilling operation and failing to ensure the safety and protection of workers, equipment, natural resources, and the environment.
The suit also seeks civil fines under the Clean Water Act for the oil that poured into the Gulf after the explosion.
The civil suits will be going on at the same time as the Justice Department’s criminal investigation.
The Justice Department is “at a different stage” with its criminal investigation compared with the civil case, Holder said. “We are moving as quickly as we can” on the criminal investigation, said Holder, who didn’t give any timetable for when it might conclude.
The Blog of the Legal Times notes the difficulty posed by running parallel criminal and civil legal actions:
The suit filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana comes amid an ongoing criminal investigation of the oil spill, which followed an explosion and fire in April that killed 11 workers.
The suit thrusts the government into the sometimes challenging world of parallel criminal and civil proceedings. The Justice Department also said in the complaint it reserves the right to conduct administrative proceedings against the defendants.
“It is difficult to have parallel proceedings going on at the same time,” said Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., addressing reporters this afternoon at Main Justice. “We need to be careful to make sure that we don’t do anything that violates any of the rules that we have to follow on the criminal side while at the same time proceeding on the civil side. It’s been a little tricky.”
Today was the final day to sue for damages caused by the BP oil spill.
The lawsuit makes it possible for the federal government to seek billions of dollars in penalties for polluting the Gulf of Mexico, beaches and wetlands, and reimbursement for its cleanup costs. More than 300 lawsuits filed previously by individuals and businesses, and now consolidated in the New Orleans federal court, include claims for financial losses and compensation for the families of 11 workers killed in the blast.
The judge overseeing those lawsuits had set Wednesday as the deadline to file certain types of complaints, though it was unclear whether the government was bound by that time frame.
“The Justice Department has left its options open to argue that there was gross negligence and therefore should be higher penalties,” said David Uhlmann, a law professor at the University of Michigan who headed up the Justice Department’s environmental crimes section for seven years. “The government has not limited itself in any way with the filing of its civil lawsuit.”
My main question is where will the money go if the suits are successful? Will the people in the Gulf states receive any compensation from damages paid to the government? I certainly hope so.
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WikiLeaks cables: BP suffered blowout on Azerbaijan gas platform | World news | The Guardian
Just posting this over here…seems relevant.
Good news!!!
I just read this at The Hill waiting for folks. (updated to work!!!) ARGGGHHH!!!
Sorry, all I can say is Bullocks. He gives a two year extension to the wealthy 2% at the expense of the rest of the country and an 13 month extension to the poorest – at least those who are still counted. Yeah, that’s the ticket for his presidency to become significant. And since when does a president care more for his presidency than for the people who elected him? The man is a lost cause.
That link doesn’t work, Dak.
Obama tells lawmakers not passing tax deal could end presidency, Dem says – The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
Sounds like an excellent reason not to pass it.
My thoughts exactly, NW Luna.
Yeah, if I were them, I’d worry about either the country or myself. Worrying about Obama’s career would be above my paygrade. Especially when you’re always three seconds away from becoming O’s latest sacrificial lamb.
Check out Taylor Marsh reaction to this “threat” from Obama:
Obama’s Bizarre Save Me One Liner | Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics
Thx!! I had the sangha over for one of the monthly feast days. I musta screwed up!
I’ve been reading on some of the possible wikileaks big pharmaceutical stuff. It seems the drugmakers are in small town Russia and other places doing the kinds of human testing that they used to do on poor people and minorities here back in the day.
Dak– That sounds like a big deal!
Yup, and writing fraudulent “clinical studies”. There is so much documentation regarding certain drugs now that are approved by the FDA – it is a heinous joke.
That’s the horrid thing. From what I’m reading, the FDA isn’t even evaluating the studies and these poor people are dying. If it was done here, that would be criminal!!!
DAK, you guys are amazing as PBS covered this topic too today:
BP Faces Lawsuit to Recover Billions in Damages From Gulf Spill
Liability without limitations? Is this a new lawsuit strategy? Anyone know?
Oh good, finally something substantive. Pharma’s an issue.
OT: When I was a kid, I was given a BCG (anti tuberculosis) vaccination at school. I later found out that it’s not recommended in the U.S. and is given mainly in the third world. I think us Bronx school kids might have been a third world experimental population to them. To this day I have a positive tuberculin skin test even though I don’t have TB.
Reply to Minx,
That is very interesting. So apparently, the administration knew about the previous spill and didn’t say anything about it publicly.
Yup…I wonder how that will play into the lawsuit. Can this be used against the DoJ by BP?
I doubt it.
I’m thinking it depends on what the donation is to the President’s re-election fund.
Frankly I am surprised that Obama’s Justice Dept is going after BP.
This is the same Justice Dept that has been fighting to keep DADT, to keep torturing, to keep expediting suspects to other countries to be tortured, to spy on Americans, ad nauseaum.
I suspect Dak’s right and POTUS is quaking in his slippers about the size of his re-election fund.
As far as I can tell, the only thing this justice department is doing is defending Bush/Cheney and all their horrid policies. I’m not expecting any thing from them.
I hope this lawsuit isn’t just theater, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Me too, I can see it just being for show.
Good point, are they for us, or against US?
Repeal Of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Passes The House Of Representative
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzfl26yXM0Y
The debate got pretty heated and they were counting ‘seconds’, gosh, that is amazing, that they were about to vote on Gay’s Civil Rights, and saving their ‘seconds’ for rebuttal if need be.
OK, no it’s up to the Senate to do the VOTE, even if they have to stay past their scheduled vacation time, heck, most Americans have to work, why shouldn’t they!