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"... BP faces tough civil and criminal investigations by the U.S. government.
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990, enacted after the Exxon Valdez spill, imposes strict liability and monetary penalties for every barrel of spilled oil. The Clean Water Act carries both civil and criminal penalties for polluting waterways.
And other laws come into play, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act because BP failed to obtain federal permits to drill in areas containing endangered whales; the Migratory Bird Act Treaty; the Endangered Species Act, which provides penalties for injury and death to wildlife and bird species; and perhaps a charge for giving misleading or false information to federal authorities in its drilling plan, which claimed BP had the technology to respond quickly to any blowout.
Then come the criminal issues. Thomas Hagemann, a white collar criminal defense attorney at Gardere Wynne Sewell in Houston, said it's too early to tell how serious the criminal-side of the picture might be for BP. If the government can prove "willful blindness or deliberate ignorance" on the part of BP, the consequences for the company could be quite serious, said Hagemann, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles — "especially since BP has a prior criminal conviction."
FYI: I have some experience with the Migratory Bird Act. Companies face fines of up to 100k per violation, and that's just for disturbing nests...
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