BP Settlement Should Happen in Public Forum, say Environmentalists
Posted October 2, 2012 02:17 pm | Public News Service
Pelican photographed after the BP oil spill.
TALLAHASSEE, FL - It's a waiting game as BP oil company executives and federal officials meet to discuss the settlement amount the company will have to pay as a result of the Gulf oil spill that leaked an estimated 4.1 million gallons of oil into Gulf waters.
Rumored settlement figures are between $15 billion and $18 billion, and conservation groups believe the closed-door meetings should be open to the public. At the National Wildlife Federation, John Kostyack, vice president for wildlife conservation, says the settlement estimates don't come close to paying for the damage done.
"The money we hope to recover from BP could be one of
the largest environmental restoration funds ever
created. We shouldn't be breezing through this lightly.
No deal should be struck without having some kind of
public debate."
The NWF estimates BP should pay $21 billion in civil
penalties under the Clean Water Act and at least another
$30 billion in other penalties for violating the Oil
Pollution Act, among other laws.
Kostyack says with BP's estimated $300 billion in
assets, the settlement needs to be sufficient to pay for
current and future damage as well as serve as a
punishment for the company.
"We're not worried about putting BP out of business. The
whole purpose for these penalties is to have a
deterrence effect - essentially, to send this
sufficiently strong message where the company loses its
incentive to be reckless."
He also emphasizes the fact that today, much of the oil
that was spilled remains at the bottom of the Gulf and
is expected to surface periodically, causing new and
additional damage. Just last month, a new oil slick
appeared off the coast of Louisiana.
Links and Photos added by the Observer