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The trial over the worst oil spill in American history began on Monday in New Orleans, with a slew of lawyers representing the government, businesses, contractors and individuals mostly trying to place the blame on BP for the Gulf Coast oil spill.
Federal prosecutors and plaintiffs’ lawyers argued the oil giant is guilty of gross negligence that caused the 2010 disaster that killed 11 rig workers and poured 4 million barrels worth of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
"Not only was it within BP's power to prevent the tragedy, it was its responsibility," said Mike Underhill, a U.S. Justice Department trial attorney.
Underhill argued that less than an hour after the BP well erupted, the company’s head well site leader noticed a problem in a pressure test. It was at that moment the well should have been shut off, Underhill argued, but it was not and instead exploded.
Judge Carl Barbier is overseeing the trial with no jury at the federal court in New Orleans. BP must show its errors do not meet the legal definition of gross negligence. The company has already paid $37 billion in cleanup, restoration, fines and settlements since the spill.
It is likely that a settlement will be reached outside the court room before a verdict is reached.
BP lawyer Mike Brock argued the company is not solely responsible for the environmental disaster. Instead, that responsibility is shared by rig owner, Transcocrean, and cement services provider, Halliburton.
"There were a number of mistakes and errors in judgment that were made by BP, Transocean and Halliburton," Brock said.
Transocean lawyer Brad Brian said BP had betrayed the trust of the workers on the rig and cited emails in which BP employees referred to it as “the well from hell.”
Halliburton's lawyer, Don Godwin, equally went after BP, but added Transocean should have shut off the well when the troubling signs were initially noticed.
"Now is when they want to pass the buck and blame my client for their misdeeds," he said.
Jim Roy, an attorney representing some of the plantiffs suing the three companies and others, said companies involved shoulder the blame. He told the judge they were motivated by "Production over protection. Profits over safety,"
Oil reached the shores of all five Gulf Coast states, wreaking havoc on local economies dependent on tourism and seafood. For that reason, there is a long list of plantifs looking for monetary compensation for their losses.
Despite the cleanup effort, many communities along the coast say they are still feeling the impact from the April 2010 spill.
Monday marked the opening of the trials first phase, aimed at assessing how much each company is to blame and their degree of negligence. Future trials will focus on the amount of oil that spilled from the well and the damages.
BP has denied gross negligence since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion.
Reuters contributed to this report
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Finger pointing? At a trial? How shocking!
What idiot wrote this drivel? When did intelligence die in this country? My guess is 1/20/1981.
We all know which finger to use for Bad Petroleum (BP)
Reminds me of a circular firring squad. Each wants to shoot his partner down so he won't get shot. BP, Haliburton and Transocean should each be allowed to play Prosecuting Attorney. They each have secrets the real prosecutor doesn't have. Now that would be fun to watch.
Could not have said it better myself.
POTUS Obama's administration awarded BP a SAFETY Award in 2009...
POTUS Obama's administration waves the Environmental Impact requirement at the Macondo Prospect...
February 2010, Deepwater Horizon commenced drilling an exploratory well at the Macondo Prospect...
20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, an explosion on the rig caused by a blowout. Leaving the well gushing at the seabed and causing the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.[13]..
12/5/2011 · The Interior Department’s Mineral Management Service has postponed a Monday safety awards luncheon at which a nominee for two awards was BP...
I hope this goddamn company goes out of business. The environmental damage they have caused can never be fully repaired.
bp will get the blame.thats where the money is.ive heard alot of strange stories about this.haliburton bought a local fleet of clean up vessels a week or so before it blew.that the government declined to force them to have emergency caps in place for just such an emergency.and that the government told bp to stop using the chemicals they were using for the cleanup and bp refused to stop.and that the oil itself could effect the flow of the gulf stream.just a couple of things ive seen and heard.nothing is ever cut and dry in "business" these days.
So did Tony Baloney ever get his life back??? Has he managed to get in any more yacht racing???
What about the eleven men who lost their lives and their families??? How about the local fishermen??? How about the environmental damage - to plant and marine life??? et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...
...sigh...i hate bp...
Well, everything bad while Bush was in office was his fault, so I think the blame here is easy to assign, Obama. Now, I have to admit, I have no clue why. I'm just following the rules put in place by all of you Obama supporters out there.....blame the president.
There will be finger pointing even after any verdicts issued by the courts. They are all guilty of negligence, if not gross negligence, and all need to be held financially liable for ALL damage costs. Maybe they will learn that profits do NOT outweigh public safety.
Well, four people BP hired in the commercial to tell us how everything is back to normal and there is no consequences to the spill seem happy enough, I say we give them the benefit of the doubt. But I am a tad bit drunk.
How many have forgotten the Exxon Valdez with a drunk captain and the disaster it created in Williams Sound in Alaska? See what the original fine was versus what it was reduced to after years tied up in court...
BP executives were beyond gross negligent in this incident. There should be prison time for some of those involved. The arrogance of that company knows no bounds. They do what they want regardless of the cost to the environment or the people where ever they drill. Stop supporting this company and do not purchase from BP. Stopping the flow of money is the only way to get their attention.
BP isn't the only company (oil/gas especially) with that kind of arrogance. Each and every driller is just as irresponsible about the environment and the associated costs to the people living in those areas. Fracking should be banned (I know...that is how we have become a leading exporter now). Nuclear waste is expanding by the day with NO solution in sight for its SAFE disposal. Modern technology is creating more health hazards every day. So how do we stop that flow of money to these companies?
The ultimate responsibility is the Regulators, who's ONLY JOB is to ensure PUBLIC SAFETY...
They issue the permits and inspect the operations to ensure compliance with the REGULATIONS. They are also responsible for recommending NEW Regulations for covering prior unknown hazards...
But like your local 'Building Inspector' they are NOT held ACCOUNTABLE, when defects are over-looked, opps I mean, not discovered...
Reports of the last three inspection for 2010 were provided under Freedom of Information legislation. Each of these inspections had taken two hours or less.[44]
The government regulators did not have sufficient knowledge or authority to notice the cost-cutting decisions, made by BP.[44] The record shows that without effective government oversight, the offshore oil and gas industry will not adequately reduce the risk of accidents, nor prepare effectively to respond in emergencies...
While I don't work for BP, I can say that in the past they have run off companies that have 1 safety incident offshore. Since most of the labor is conducted by 3rd party contracted companies, you can bet that BP will use their past safety records to pass the blame on to their contractors. I'm not saying their tactic will work... just saying they will use it.
It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.
Their past 'safety' record is definitely something they would not want to be drawing attention to!
How much will it cost to clean up the Gulf Coast beaches for decades to come? A LOT.
The taxpayers shouldn't have to fork out a penny for any of it. BP (and their political cronies) want to cry "shakedown"?
Give them a shakedown they'll never forget.
My husband (now deceased) worked for decades on oil rigs in the North Sea and in Saudi Arabia. Oil wells leak all the time. This was an unforunate accident and, sadly, lives were lost. Accidents happen on rigs all the time. Yes, make BP pay for the clean up. But, I can't believe any company would intentionally cause a leak. For what purpose?
In an earlier article today, now deleted, something was mentioned about the evil Alberta tar sands. I was born and raised in Canada and am now a very proud American citizen with dual citizenship. Canadians aren't afraid to use the resources existing. Are we just supposed to look at and admire them? No! They're here for our use. I fail to understand why the US is so afraid to drill. Well, when Canada drills all the oil they need, if they have any left over, maybe we'll sell some to the US. Or, maybe not.
the US is making a 60 million dollar deal to take up to 76 truckloads of radioactive waste from your chalk river fissile storage tank.the potential for a serious attack to our country is rather large for this 1st time ever transport.so shove your wiseass remarks.
JAMIE, no one said that BP did it intentionally, but they did work as fast and sloppy as they could, with sub-standard materials and disregard for safety. Then they did everything they could to cover it up, like using a dispersant that mixed with the oil and sunk it to the sea floor and spreading a little money to Governors and congress and even a few of the people affected by the spill. But buying the politicians doesn't seem to be enough this time, that's all.
And the Alberta pipeline? Well, first, you don't drill tar sands, you strip-mine them. Ever seen a picture of a tar sand strip mine? not at all pretty, or clean. Being a Canadian like you are you no doubt rember the large protest marches over them. Next, Canadian ultra-greedy paid so US congressmen to run a pressurized pipeline from Canada down to a southern state (Texas, I believe) where it will be processed and shipped over seas. Who gets the toxic tar sand after processing? well, the US does. The same people who get to deal with the pipe leaks, because tar sand is corrosive.
And Canada does sell its "excess oil", the US is one of its best customers. Don't think that'll change.
And your "they're here for us to use" statement.. who told you that? the ultra-conservative greedy politicians? God? You sound less like a Canadian (the five I know are proud of their clean country and not too happy about tar sands) and more like a southern U.S. ultra-conservative religious type. Sorta like if we use all the natural resources up, God will come and take us all to heaven. Right.
Thanks for reading. I usually try to keep my comments shorter.
Reasonable people are not complaining about obtaining the resources. Reasonable people complain about the potential for negligent resource gathering that results in serious damage to the surrounding environment.
I'm glad BP is able to put together oil rigs to extract oil from beneath the ocean and provide resources that make it possible for modern society to run. I am not glad that when something like the oil rig explosion occurs BP does everything in its power to put the blame and cost of repair in other's hands.
The typical procedure these companies have is to privatize profit and publicize costs. That does not seem like a good future for society.
A few FACTS about the Deepwater Incident:
1. The 'Blow Out Preventer' was damaged when the drilling pipe was forced down during the time the rubber sealing collar was engaged. The shards of rubber from this collar was detected in the drilling mud, which CONFIRMED a compromised seal. This prevented any later valid 'pressure test' that is used to confirm a sealed well between the casing & drill pipe. BP & Transocean were aware that this damage had occurred...
2. The concrete used by the cement services provider, Halliburton had not been certified for use @ these depths...
3. There were questions about the number of centralizers used, why a cement bond log test was not preformed and the inability of the 'blind shear rams' to cut through the drill pipe joints...
4. The event time line of the explosion - see www1. .icyte.com/system/snapshots/fs1/a/5/0/c/a50cdd1e80cf8802ba8c288544bb52c0fc2deeb6/b6bfa6fbaf1a6582c5532bed7650ec6171f1cb81.html
The ultimate decision concerning SAFETY and drilling procedures is the BP Engineer on-board & the drilling center located on-shore, that monitors ALL drilling operations...
True, AC. All true. But doing things as fast, cheap and sloppy for maxium profit is the modern way to do business. So I expect more accidents, leaks and mishaps anytime in the future.
AC Robinson has repeated the facts, except leavng out Donald Vedrine. Has the BP rig boss ever testified, or has Mr. Vedrine had an economic frontal lobotomy? That is when you are allegedly paid to have a permanent headache which makes you too ill and/or forgetful to testify in court.
DO NOT forget to bring up the fact that the oil is still out there in the ocean, just submerged now and causing more problems.
Aw, how bad can it be? BP's had commercials on television showing happy people eating shrimp and saying things like, "Come on down to the Gulf! It's never been better, thanks to BP!"
It MUST be true, or it would never have been allowed on TV! (sarcasm)
That's Fox News for you. One of their biggest contributors.
RA115 gets the Nobel Prize for chemistry this year. He has found a way to make water float on oil. Must be radioactive heavy water created by Fukushima. LOL
When does (do) the trial(s) for those responsible for the Great Recession begin that put 20 million people out of work and trashed middle class retirement plans and nest eggs, including mine? Or, are they too big to fail and therefore to prosecute? But wait, just because the corporation may be too big doesn't mean the executives responsible can't be prosecuted...unless they too are above the law?
Or, does it have something to do with lobbying and campaign contributions that are too big to do without?
(c) 2013
Its doesn't matter, the outcome will be the same. They will get a slap on the wrist by their corrupt politicians they have in their pockets and we will pay the price at the pump. Life is good.
@ AC Robertson get your facts straight: A corrupt Bush appointee was the head of the Mineral Management Service and allowed the lax and cozy relationship that led to the BP disaster . This must be lie on Obama week http://drudgeretort.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/minerals-management-service-corrupted-under-the-bush-administration/
So EVERY Government department head must be CHANGED for a NEW Administration to be held ACCOUNTABLE???
Would this also apply to POTUS George Bush???
George Tenet held the position as the Director of the CIA from July 1997 to July 2004. It was his Iraq INTEL that was furnished to George Bush and Congress...
I hope the jury throw the book at BP. Oops, all the litigation and payout cost will be passed on to the pump and all petroleum products. LOL
Things might not have been so bad if as with panic as the incident began (well erupted) a valve was improperly set probably by a line employee diverting the oil and flammable gas onto the drilling platform instead of to an overboard dump. Then the gas getting ingested into a Diesel engine powering a generator which then began to race/run away out of control. Still would have been a spill but possibly much easier to shut off and no explosion or loss of the life of the workers or of the rig.
There were MANY operational ERRORS that contributed to this accident...
IMO - The improper rigging of the 'Blowout Preventer' that prevented the EMERGENCY disconnecting of the drill pipe from the well head. Was the ultimate factor that lead to the oil spill...
They are just lucky that the 'Blowout Preventer' did not break-off and destroy the well casing...
This company has already spent tens of billions on clean up and helping people affected by this oil spill, all without any legal order. It seems greedy to me to continue to take and take money from this company who seems honest about doing their best to clean up this mess which other companys also had some responsibility for the accident. Only reason BP has been picked to sue is because thats where the money is, those other companys would go bankrupt if forced to pay what these lawyers want. Also easier to sue a foreign company than a domestic company.