In what amounts to a win for BP spill victims, a federal court in Louisiana Tuesday (July 27) ordered the oil company to preserve oil samples it has taken from its gusher and work with environmental groups and others to figure out what testing procedures are appropriate moving forward. I participated in this action on behalf of clients because I consider it an important part of holding BP responsible for the spill. We’ve noted that BP officials have often referenced (a bit too often, if you follow me) all the “natural” or “from other sources” seepage into the Gulf, and that leads you to wonder if someday they’ll deny certain pollution is in any way tied to their spill. So, we want to “fingerprint” the BP spill oil, which really means preserving it so we can match its chemistry. There are credible experts, like EPA senior strategist Hugh Kaufman, who feel that BP has been working very hard to hide the spill all along, using dangerous dispersants, withholding video footage and low-balling flow estimates. This ...
↧