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Bobby Schneider Kim Fortun Oil Politics BP Oil Spill Annotation Three

Another document found on the New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) website, entitled “Federal government files suit against companies involved in BP oil spill,” revolves around the types of lawsuits that the government is filing as well as what companies and laws are involved with these suits. The author of this article, Rebecca Mowbray, is a business writer who has covered stories about monetary entitlements, insurance policies, mortgages, audits, and has also written about the economic and business aspects of major events such as Hurricane Katrina. She has also won an Enterprise Award through The Society of American Business Editors and Writers in 2008.

Although British Petroluem seems to have acted with some negligence as the spill played out, the Federal Government used a more aggressive approach, took matters into their own hands, and sued BP. One of the first laws being used for grounds to sue is the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which leaves the companies associated with the spill solely responsible to pay for all clean up costs and for damages done to natural environments (Mowbray, 2010, pg. 1). The Clean Water Act, “which prohibits the unauthorized discharge of oil into waterways,” is the center of a lawsuit by the Justice Department as well. These government cases were just a few of the hundreds that were overseen in the “consolidated litigation” by Jurist Carl Barbier (Mowbray, 2010, pg. 1). Although the Justice Department has not taken advantage of every law it could sue under, it has the right to, and very well could later declare lawsuits under environmental laws including the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the Park System Resource Protection Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (Mowbray, 2010, pg. 2).

The main factors being described can be summarized in a few quotes and excerpts from the document. “The suit [filed by the Federal Government] seeks to hold BP, Anadarko, MOEX and Transocean liable without limitation under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 for the cost of cleaning up the world’s largest accidental oil spill and resulting damage to natural resources and the economy” (Mowbray, 2010, pg. 1). The keywords in this quote are “without limitation,” because seeing as the oil spill was so severe and damaging, the final bill will undoubtedly surpass the current limitation caps that have been set for incidents such as this and it is only fair that the companies responsible pay for the problems that they have caused. Eric Holder, Attorney General, said, “While today’s civil action marks a critical step forward, it is not a final step” (Mowbray, 2010, pg. 1). These words help to bring the sense of peace of mind to all involved in the incident while still understanding that a long road lies ahead before life in the Gulf can return back to normal, or as close to normal as it will get. “The Justice Department also didn’t draw from its full arsenal of environmental laws, but reserves the right to do so in the future under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, the Park System Resource Protection Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act” (Mowbray, 2010, pg. 2). This quote, similar to the previous one, shows just how extensive the environmental damage is because although there are probably many more laws which apply to numerous aspects of the spill, all of these laws in particular apply to only one part of the entire problem.

This article is beneficial to my research because it provides a large supply of laws that are involved with the BP recovery process, as well as some lawsuits that were filed against the companies involved in the incident. Furthermore, the section of the document that discusses the government claims being in the “consolidated litigation” is helpful because it adds to my research about how the vast amounts of claims and suits were handled.

Some points made that may be of use to other recovery research: • “Civil penalties can be assessed against each of the eight companies named [in] the suit to the tune of $1,100 per barrel of oil spilled or $4,300 per barrel lost as a result of ‘gross negligence or willful misconduct.’” (economics) • Further researching the role of the Natural Marin Sanctuaries Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Park System Resource Protection Act could help identify specific animals and recreational beach areas that were affected by the spill.

Mowbray, Rebecca. “Federal government files suit against companies involved in BP oil spill.” The Times-Picayune. nola.com. 15 Dec. 2010. < [|http://blog.nola.com/business_impact/print.] [| html?entry=/2010/12/federal_government_files_suit.html] >.

Obtained Past Work and Credentials From: < [] >. < [|http://slabbed.wordpress.com/2008/03/29/enterprise-award-winner-rebecca-mowbray-on-] [| claims-dumping/] >.