At the start of the BP civil trial now underway in New Orleans, I expressed my pleasure that more of the facts of what happened on the Deepwater Horizon rig on, and leading up to, the night of April 10, 2010, would finally be aired for the public to see, in an open court of law. Sure enough, the first couple weeks of the case — with billions of dollars in penalties against BP as well as rig...
Sometimes it feels like conversations about the Gulf of Mexico — nearly three years after BP’s Deepwater Horizon catastrophe unleashed roughly 5 million barrels of fresh crude — take place in parallel universes. Inside a courtroom here in New Orleans, BP and its high-priced lawyers continue to push for lower estimate of how much oil was spilled, while their unending barrage of...
The ongoing BP civil trial here in New Orleans continues to expose two things: The human tragedy and sorrow of what happened aboard the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon rig on that night nearly four years ago, and the many blunders and greed-laced miscalculations that made it happen. Yesterday, we heard some heartbreaking testimony from one of the rig workers who survived the explosion, Transocean...
Like a lot of you, I’ve been keeping a close eye on what is happening with the BP civil trial here in New Orleans. As I wrote last week, the airing of what really happened on the Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010 — in a case that many of us never thought would ever come to trial — has been a Godsend of vital information for the American public. I applaud the U.S. Justice...
In a few hours, the government’s massive civil case against BP in the Deepwater Horizon spill is finally slated to come to trial. As we noted on the blog last week, it’s unusual for a case this large — with so much to lose for both sides — to come before a judge. The fact that the U.S. Justice Department has been pressing forward is a powerful signal of confidence by the...
It’s looking more and more like the federal government’s massive civil suit against BP over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe is actually going to trial — although you never know what’s going to happen until the judge bangs the final gavel. I do know this: If BP — and the people of the Gulf Coast — actually all do get our day (or weeks) in court...
