Winding Down Deep Horizon

Back in September a U.S. District judge found BP "grossly negligent" in the Deep Horizon fiasco of 2010. If this ruling holds, BP's fine would increase from $1,100 per barrel to as much as $4,300 per barrel.

Determining how many barrels were released to the Gulf of Mexico has been in contention for the past four years. The government established the Flow Rate Technical Group (FRTG) to determine the true amount of oil injected into the Gulf of Mexico. The FRTG was composed of scientists from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US Geological Survey, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, the US Department of Energy and outside academics. It has concluded that at least 4.9 million barrels of oil were injected. Naturally, BP disagrees. If the figure of 4.9 million barrels spilled is used, BP will pay fines exceeding $21 billion for gross negligence versus $5.39 billion in fines, had negligence not been found.

But the dollars fined may be the lesser problem as money cannot reverse ecological impacts from which scientists estimate the Gulf will take decades to recover.