Monday, July 13, 2015

The BP Settlement For The Gulf Rig Explosion

The U.S. Supreme Court denied BP's request for a new hearing concerning the federal trial and its judgement against BP for the macondo well and the oil spill that resulted.  The courts actions ended BP's options and now BP is talking settlement numbers with Louisiana and other gulf states that were harmed.  The exact numbers are not in yet but BP will pay billions to Louisiana and other states.

The Obama administration and the federal government's rules and regulations carried the day and enforced the law by holding BP responsible and accountable for its negligent acts of damaging the environment.  The federal government stood tall under the President's leadership despite the noise from those Louisiana elected officials who opposed the moratorium which was necessary until what went wrong could be sorted out.

Too bad Louisiana's elected officials have failed to hold the oil industry accountable for the environmental damage caused by their operations for the past 40 plus years.  They have even opposed the Levee Board's law suit against those companies to bring justice to Louisiana.  The people of Louisiana should be glad the Obama administration and the federal government was looking after the state's interest and had the fore sight to pass federal regulations that would hold the industry accountable for their offshore operations.

The federal government does a lot of things right under democratic administrations.  When policy is void of ideology, decisions are made that benefit the people and the country.  It is really a fore gone conclusion.  It is what precedent is all about.  The next step for Louisiana is for the people to elect a democratic governor this fall to replace the disaster called Bobby Jindal.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

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