BP’s fine less than oil giant’s profits in a single quarter

To contact us Click HERE

Company admits to felonies; implications for civil suitsunclear
It certainly sounds like a lot.  After spewing hundreds of millions of gallonsof oil into the Gulf of Mexico, fouling beaches, killing wildlife and ruininglivelihoods up and down the Gulf Coast, oil giant BP will pay fines andpenalties of more than $5 billion over five years.  Newsaccounts are trumpeting the largest criminal penalty in U.S. history.
But that needs to be understood in the context of what itmeans to be an oil giant.  The fineequals about $262 million per quarter for 20 quarters.  But in just the most recent quarter, BP amassedprofits of $5.43 billion.  That’smore than all the fines and penalties agreed to today.  Looked at another way, had BP been requiredto pay one-quarter’s worth of the fine during the most recent quarter, it wouldhave cut the company’s profits by less than five percent.
This for a company that also is pleading guilty to 11felonies relating to the deaths of 11 people when its Deepwater Horizon offshoreoil rig exploded in 2010.  Two BP employees have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
This may be the best the government could do given that, hadthe case gone to trial, it would have been heard in what AFJ President Nan Aronhas aptly dubbed the “oilsoaked Fifth Circuit” – a reference to the tiesbetween some judges in that circuit and the oil industry.
BP may yet have to pay more, including a fine of up to $21billion for violating the Clean Water Act – something worth rememberingwhenever conservative lawmakers rail against “excessive government regulation.”  But that, too, is subject to negotiation.
AFJ is studying the settlement to determine the impact, ifany, on the small businesses and private citizens who sued BP, some of whomwere profiled in AFJ’s documentary Crude Justice.  Many, but not all, of those cases weresettled earlier this year, settlements BP estimates will cost the company about$7.8 billion.
Anticipating that the impactof the disaster would continue to be felt long after the initial damage wasdone, Alliance for Justice worked hard to advocate for legal solutions thatwould let Gulf Coast residents retain their right to hold BP accountable forthe damage done to their health and businesses, and to be compensated for lossof income due to the long-term environmental impact of the spill. 
Through Crude Justice and other efforts, AFJ has played a substantial rolein bringing public attention to the critical issues surrounding the Deepwater Horizon accident, its effects, and the searchfor justice.  AFJ was instrumental inhelping to secure $2 million to pay for legal aid attorneys to assist victimsof the spill.  A year after the spill, we published an in-depth report on how the legal process was and wasn’t workingto help victims achieve justice.
For more about theDeepwater Horizon explosion, it’s impact on the people of the gulf, and theirefforts to find justice, check out these resources on our website.