BP Pleads Guilty For Deepwater Disaster
November 16, 2012
BP (British Petroleum) pleaded guilty yesterday to 14 criminal charges related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The criminal penalty–$4.5 billion–is the largest in U.S. history.
The Department of Justice has imposed a $4-billion fine, to be paid over five years. The Securities and Exchange Commission is fining BP $525 million, to be paid over a three-year period.
Eleven people were killed in the disaster, which began with a massive explosion on a drilling platform that eventually tipped over and sank in the Gulf of Mexico. For 87 day, crude oil gushed into the gulf, polluting the water, fouling beaches in four states, and killing tens of thousands of marine animals and birds.
Additional World Book articles:
- Environmental pollution
- Environmental pollution 2012 (a Back in Time article)
- Troubled Waters: The Cost of Crude (a special report)