BP's Legal Strategy Revealed! Get Carol Browner's Emails, Discredit the White House
BP wants the White House to turn over emails from climate aide Carol Browner to President Obama about the administration's response to last year's Gulf oil disaster. So far, the courts haven't been sympathetic -- but that doesn't mean BP has failed in its overall strategy to punch as many as holes as possible into the government's estimate of the Gulf oil spill.
There is compelling evidence Ms. Browner was personally and substantially involved in the decision-making process that produced the United States' estimate of oil flow rares and oil spill volumes, the company wrote to the court.BP's future financial health rests largely on minimizing its liability over last year's Gulf oil disaster. As I wrote at the time, there's good reason BP initially argued that measuring the size of the Gulf oil spill was an unnecessary distraction to the task of stopping the gushing well. Plainly put, more oil in the water means bigger fines.
It pays to deny, deny, deny
Penalties under the Clean Water Act, which were strengthened after the Exxon Valdez spill, begin at $1,100 for each barrel of oil that spills into federal waters. BP might have avoided big fines had it not been for the now infamous live oil spill cam, which completely discredited its measly 5,000-barrel-day- estimate.
The U.S. Geological Survey eventually determined that 4.1 million barrels of oil (out of a total of 4.9 million barrels released from the well) actually made it into the Gulf. That means BP faces a minimum of $4.5 billion in fines if the official estimate stands. It gets worse for BP from there. BP could face $21.1 billion in fines if the court finds the UK oil company was grossly negligent, although this scenario is unlikely.
Same strategy, different day
With billions in fines on the horizon, it's not surprising that BP is trying to debunk the government estimates. The oil company has already tried this same strategy before.
Late last year, BP told a commission investigating the spill it believed the estimates of how much oil flowed from its failed Macondo well were off by as much as 50 percent. BP argued at the time that the flow rate was weaker and then increased over time as impediments to the oil were cut away.
Back then, BP tried to discredit the scientists. Now its No. 1 target is the White House and the political timing for President Obama is hardly ideal. BP has little to lose with this strategy, even if it ultimately fails. This legal stunt won't suddenly cause the Justice Department to pursue BP with gusto -- that's already happening.
Photo from the Coast Guard
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