When we have a White House that opens its arms to the oil industry,
we’re bound to end up with judges who have similar sympathies. So it
was in the Supreme Court’s slash job on ExxonMobil’s damages
owed for the Exxon Valdez tanker spill in Alaska (The court cut what
was originally a $5 billion tab to a measly $500 million). And so it is
now with BP’s liability
for the deadly 2005 blast at its Texas City refinery that killed 15
people and injured scores more. The high court refused to hear pleas
from the victims that a $50 million federal "pollution" fine against BP
is too small, and that the private settlement between BP and federal
prosecutors illegally denied victims of the blast information about the
negotiations.
The settlement, which includes a felony plea by
BP (not for killing so many of its workers after it cheaped out on
safety at the refinery, but for the pollution the blast caused) calls
for a $50 million fine, which the victims and families of victims view
as pathetically small for such an enormous personal toll. Here’s more on their story, from the Houston Chronicle.
Three
more workers have been killed at the plant since the 2005 blast,
despite BP’s ardent promises of a complete overhaul of its (non)safety
culture.
Now the original trial judge can either approve or not
approve the settlement, but what the victims think won’t be part of
her decision.