In this new suit against the EPA, BP alleges that there’s something odd about the EPA contract suspension. Since the spill, the Interior Department has praised the company’s improved safety procedures and, based on that evaluation, awarded BP dozens of new drilling leases in the gulf. William Reilly—the co-chairman of the presidential gulf spill commission, a former EPA chief, and a leading critic of BP—has acknowledged that the company “learned its lesson” from the 2010 disaster and cleaned up its act. So why would the EPA zing BP now? It’s possible that the government wants to pressure the company while BP continues to defend against yet another legal action: a Justice Department civil lawsuit seeking up to $17.5 billion in additional damages. (This suit would have been resolved under the attempted global settlement that failed last year.) Under attack from all fronts, BP has concluded that it has no choice but to counter. As Chief Executive Robert Dudley explained in Bloomberg Businessweek’s Interview Issue, BP tried negotiation; now it will go the litigation route. Thus the suit against the EPA and, more broadly, the de facto division of the company into an oil operation and a law firm.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 16:59:41 +0000
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