Should BP Get Corporate Death Penalty?

Should BP Get Corporate Death Penalty?
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

Three years after the BP oil spill, in which BP's criminal negligence took the lives of 11 workers before dumping tar and oily crude over 30,000 square miles of the gulf -- BP is in court this week in a civil trial where a finding of gross negligence would mean the company is liable to the U.S. for as much as $17.6 billion in Clean Water Act fines.

Is that punishment enough?

Keep in mind that, in no uncertain terms, it is the push to maximize profits -- and a "winner take all" quarterly shareholders capitalist mentality that killed those workers and devastated the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico is the reason for the destruction.

What we won't hear in the civil trial is any talk of revoking BP's corporate charter.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot