By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., – United States of America – The United States Government is appealing a federal court ruling that reduced the potential penalty BP Plc must pay for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the biggest offshore oil discharge in U.S. history, by nearly $4 billion. The Clean Water Act would allow for BP to be fined a maximum of $17.6 billion but Barbier’s ruling on the spill size lowered the fine to $13.7 billion.

 

U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier decided the spill size in January, judging it to be 3.2 million barrels. BP appealed the spill-size decision last month. Additionally, Judge Barbier recently rejected claims that the London-based BP was reckless in preparing for a disaster or had acted unreasonably in responding to the spill. However, the U.S. didn’t say which part of the court ruling it was appealing in a notice it filed Friday. The U.S. is seeking a maximum $13.7 billion based on the size of the spill and the finding of gross negligence. BP has countered the U.S’ claim by stating that it did not deserve the maximum fines due to its efforts in responding to the spill and minimizing the impact. Wyn Hornbuckle, a Justice department spokesman, didn’t immediately respond to requested for comment on the substance of the U.S. appeal.

BP has incurred more than $42 billion of costs for the spill, including for clean up, fines and compensation for victims. Approximately 810,000 barrels were collected during the clean up.

For more information, please see the following:

ABC NEWS – BP Ends Attempt to Out Oil Spill Claims Administrator – 6 Mar. 2015.

BLOOMBERG – BP Win Cutting Gulf Spill Tab By $4 Billion Fought by U.S. – 13 Mar. 2015.

REUTERS – U.S. Appeals Ruling On Size of BP Oil Spill – 14 Mar. 2015.