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Couldn’t happen to a more deserving company.
The U.S. government has launched a formal criminal and civil investigation into the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday [...]
“We will make certain that those responsible clean up the mess they have made and restore or replace the natural resources lost or injured in this tragedy,” Holder said in his remarks. “And we will prosecute to the full extent any violations of the law.”
Holder delivered his remarks following a meeting in Louisiana with prosecutors from gulf coast regions, which have been affected by the aftermath of the ecological disaster.
“[A]s we have said all along, we must also ensure that anyone found responsible for this spill is held accountable,” Holder said. “That means enforcing the appropriate civil – and if warranted, criminal – authorities to the full extent of the law.”
As we know, civil penalties for violations of the Clean Water Act could total up to $4,300 a barrel. Holder didn’t stop with the Clean Water Act, but said his department would be looking into violations of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Endangered Species Act, among other statutes. Holder said that “we have already instructed all relevant parties to preserve any documents that may shed light on the facts surrounding this disaster… we will be meticulous, we will be comprehensive, and we will be aggressive. We will not rest until justice is done.”
This is a break with the typical “look forward, not backward” approach of the Obama Administration to malfeasance and corporate crimes generally, but of course, what matters is the follow-through. It’s worth noting that the President backed Holder up on this today.
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It’s been a long time coming, but more and more of us are seeing that corporations and capitalism itself is the real enemy of us, and life on this planet. I am completely depressed to hear that BP simply said: well, not doing anything more until a couple of months. What in god’s name is that? That is we, BP, do not care. It costs us too much to do anything now and you can’t do anything more to us. So yeah, I support a real change in this administration’s tune. My heart does go out to us all at the loss of the gulf.
As if the Ken Salazar Department of the Interior USFWS gives a damn about Migratory Birds. In other energy projects, they aren’t very interested in preventing the death, and other forms of “Take” by Energy Projects. Salazar has been all about identifying an acceptable level of “Take” – as in the case of golden eagles.
This could be a game changer – actually upholding the laws! That would garner a lot of respect if the govt actually followed thru! Go team!
And the tankers sitting around out of sight, full up, waiting for prices to go higher – that’s why there are no empty tankers down there siphoning up the oil, the bastards.