G
Guns Guns Guns
Guest
An overlooked federal law could make criminal charges far more costly for BP and its contractors than the looming civil trial, a former federal prosectutor said.
David Uhlmann, who led the Justice Department's Environmental Crimes Section for seven years, said he's nearly certain that BP, Transocean and Halliburton will be charged criminally...
"Knowing discharge of oil, that's a felony violation," Uhlmann said. "But if you do it negligently, which I think is what happened here, that's a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act."
Felonies could also be charged against individuals if they are found to have lied to the government or if prosecutors want to pursue manslaughter charges for the 11 men killed in the explosion. The government will be carefully parsing statements made by BP, Transocean and Halliburton officials to see if they made false statements.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2012/03/bp_others_likely_to_be_charged.html
David Uhlmann, who led the Justice Department's Environmental Crimes Section for seven years, said he's nearly certain that BP, Transocean and Halliburton will be charged criminally...
"Knowing discharge of oil, that's a felony violation," Uhlmann said. "But if you do it negligently, which I think is what happened here, that's a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act."
Felonies could also be charged against individuals if they are found to have lied to the government or if prosecutors want to pursue manslaughter charges for the 11 men killed in the explosion. The government will be carefully parsing statements made by BP, Transocean and Halliburton officials to see if they made false statements.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2012/03/bp_others_likely_to_be_charged.html