$5 Billion to $20 Billion in Fines Possible for Gulf Oil Spill, U.S. Says
$5 Billion to $20 Billion in Fines Possible for Gulf Oil Spill, U.S. Says
NEW ORLEANS (CN) - A government attorney told the federal judge overseeing the Gulf of Mexico oil-spill litigation that BP, Anadarko and Transocean could be subject to $5 billion to $20 billion in punitive fines under the Clean Water Act.
"These are civil penalties - they're not intended to make the people whole. It's intended to punish," Department of Justice Senior Attorney Steven O'Rourke told U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier.
O'Rourke said the Clean Water Act is simple: "any person who is the owner, operator, or person in charge of any vessel ... or offshore facility from which oil is discharged" will face Clean Water Act fines.
O'Rourke said the company punished simply has to be owner of the vessel or platform that contributes to an oil spill. This would include BP, as part owner of the lease to the well and operator of the Deepwater Horizon rig; Anadarko, as part owner of the lease to the well, and rig owner Transocean.
"Each defendant admits that the oil came out of the well through the blowout preventer riser and was discharged into the Gulf of Mexico," O'Rourke said. "They've admitted they were owners and they've admitted the discharge from the well."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/20/43203.htm
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