WAKE UP AMERICA...
A short YouTube Video -- "The UnCola Prez"
Posted on 06/16/2010 8:40:35 PM PDT by lbryce
As BP watches its bill rise quickly for the oil spill, including $20 billion it is setting aside for claims, it could find the tally growing much faster in coming months if the United States Department of Justice files criminal charges against the company.
Based on the latest estimates, for example, the daily civil fine for the escaping oil alone could be $280 million. But criminal penalties, if imposed, could cause the costs to balloon still further, said David M. Uhlmann, a law professor at the University of Michigan, who headed the environmental crimes section of the Justice Department from 2000 to 2007.
Others note that such penalties could lead to loss of government contracts.
Even misdemeanor convictions under environmental laws could produce stunningly large fines under general federal criminal statutes, Mr. Uhlmann added. That is because the Alternative Fines Act allows the federal government to request twice the gain or loss associated with an offense if the Justice Department shows that a crime was committed.
Predictions by analysts of the overall cost of the spill to BP, when criminal penalties are included, have been rising. On Wednesday, Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at Raymond James, estimated the total legal cost, including criminal fines, at $62.9 billion, which would dwarf the $20 billion escrow account to be used to pay claims of economic loss.
The agreement to create the fund would not pre-empt people from using the courts to resolve disputes with BP over the spill.
Proving a criminal case beyond misdemeanor crimes under federal environmental laws could be difficult. The standard for proving environmental misdemeanors can be relatively low: merely negligent actions can lead to misdemeanor penalties under the Clean Water Act.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
NYT is full of liberals and no one knows oil industry.
I cannot fix stupid.
How much does BP have in assets?
It doesn’t stop at $20B. There will be future demands. BP is now on the hook for unlimited future payments — they’ve agreed to the concept, and the taps are now open. They’ve been publicly humiliated, they’ve alienated their shareholders, and they’re out tens of billions of dollars.
Obama is screwing them with a chainsaw.
Why? He hates profitable businesses. He hates the British. He hates fossil fuels. He is going to stomp them like a gang banger.
Exactly. That's why O is going to unleash the full force of the US Government to take them out. Pundits at "The Street" say BP will survive beyond two years, taken over by the larger oil conglomerates.
Well, that’s what happens when you have a boot on your neck.
This is what happens when you don’t fight for your own survival. Considering how they just rolled over and gave up I do not have a single ounce of sympathy for them. They deserve what they get and unfortunately the stockholders will suffer in the end.
I was aghast at how the other CEO’s rolled over too in the hearings yesterday.
I am absolutely disgusted that it looks like the energy industry is gonna let Obammmmma do to them what he has done to finance, health care and automobile industries. I mistakenly thought they would man up and have the gonads to tell him to FO.
I’ll bet BP wishes they’d have paid the money to do it right the first time. Their corporate culture of profit over safety has bitten them in the past and now it looks like it will take them down. Gonna be tough to buy their way out of this one.
The government has the whip hand now. Private enterprise in this country is in real trouble.
Criminalizing these mistakes will discourage oil development. The era of gulf oil development is over despite the abundant reserves. BP and its partners made mistakes and acted in haste. It is easy to criticize their actions in hindsight. I am not convinced that the blowout would not have occurred even without the mistakes.
From my limited understanding of well procedures, I do not see any criminal behavior. I see mistakes and an incredible oil discovery leading to a disaster.
Acorn and the Unions will be happy to receive those fines for the “small people.” (A BP official referred to the Gulf residents as “small people” in a press conference yesterday. LOL).
The people who are harmed by this on the Gulf coast will see little of this money. It will be BamBam’s “walking around” political money.
(Lawyer hat firmly in place)
'Criminal penalties', exsqueeze me? Exactly what 'crime' did BP commit?
Now. That being said there 'may be' Civil liabilities(1), but those are Torts to be decided in a Civil Court of Law. Not Criminal acts facing a Gubmint Prosecutor.
Furthermore (yer honor) this ACCIDENT never would have occurred if BP was allowed to drill where they and the State of Louisiana wanted to in the first place, in 500 Feet of Water. It was the Feds and Eco Nazis who forced BP to Drill in 5,000 feet of water. Ergo, if there's any 'fault' or 'crime' to be laid at anyone's feet -- look at the Feds led by Barry 'The Golfer' Obama and his posse of Eco-Nazi Freak backers, not to BP.
Thank you. The Defense Rests.
(1) See: An Act Of God.
BP should just get out of here and go somewhere else. Like China, where they don’t crucify oil companies and simply work to solve the problems at hand.
Also the Wednesday, 6/16/2010 Speech after the BP Meeting ...
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