The British oil company, BP, revealed that it has decided to pay $4.5 billion in penalties and fines and apologize to 14 criminal charges related to the explosion that took place two years ago. Eleven people were killed due to the explosion and it caused a huge oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Justice Department registered criminal charges on 3 employees of BP who are connected with the disaster. Eric H. Holder Jr., Attorney General, at a news conference to declare the settlement, stated that it was exceptional when considering both the sums of money and the fact that the company as well as employees are criminally charged.
The government said that the explosion was due to BP’s negligence in covering an exploratory well that sank the Deepwater Horizon drill rig and unleashed a gusher of oil that coated all the beaches across the Gulf coast.
The settlement drives out one dark mark over the company since the explosion. The company might owe pollution fine of $21 billion under the Clean Water Act if it proved that the company has been grossly careless. BP and the government vowed to dynamically challenge that issue at a trail that will begin in February 2013.
In the deal with the Justice Department, BP will pay a total of $4 billion in penalties for a period of 5 years. The penalties include $1.256 billion in criminal fines, 350 million to the National Academy of Sciences, and $2.394 billion to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The criminal fine posed on the company is one of the highest imposed fines by the United States.
The company also approved to pay $525 million for settling the civil charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission because of misleading investors regarding the oil flow rate from the well.
Additionally, the company will have four years of government monitoring of its ethics and safety practices.
The government charged BP officers, Donald Vidrine and Robert Kaluza who were throughout the drilling rig. Government argued that the officers were careless in monitoring tests to close the well. Prosecutors also charged BP’s former vice president, David Rainey for surveying in the Gulf of Mexico and making fake statements for knowing how much the oil spilling from the well was.
The Attorney General, Mr. Holder said that the investigation by the government is still under process and it might file other criminal charges.