Did BP Deliberately Lie on Its Drilling Application?

The more facts that come out, the more it appears that British Petroleum deliberately lied on its permit application for the Deep Horizon well that is now turning much of the Gulf of Mexico into a toxic wasteland. While fault also lies with the permit review authorities who never checked out the details of the application - e.g., one of the experts cited as available for consultation in the event of a spill had in fact been dead for several years - the principal blame lies on BP which was apparently willing to say anything in order to secure the drilling permit. Obviously, someone at BP needs to be prosecuted for the knowingly false application. The facts as disclosed by the Associated Press certainly seem to support a finding of gross negligence, if not wilful misconduct on the part of BP. The facts also underscore why oil companies need to face strict liability without a liability cap in respect to all future drilling. I suspect BP factored in the maximum fines under the rules in place at the time and figured it was worth the gamble. The Virginian Pilot has some highlights:
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Glaring errors and omissions in BP's oil spill response plans have exposed a slapdash effort to follow environmental rules, outraging Gulf Coast residents who can see on their beaches how unprepared the company was.
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BP PLC's 582-page regional spill plan for the Gulf, and its 52-page, site-specific plan for the Deepwater Horizon rig vastly understate the dangers posed by an uncontrolled leak and vastly overstate the company's preparedness to deal with one, according to an Associated Press analysis. The lengthy plans were approved by the federal government last year before BP drilled its ill-fated well.
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Among the glaring errors in the report: A professor is listed in BP's 2009 response plan for a Gulf of Mexico oil spill as a national wildlife expert. He died in 2005.
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The plan lists cold-water marine mammals including walruses, sea otters, sea lions and seals as "sensitive biological resources." None of those animals live anywhere near the Gulf.
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Also, names and phone numbers of several Texas A&M University marine life specialists are wrong. So are the numbers for marine mammal stranding network offices in Louisiana and Florida, which are disconnected.

"The AP report paints a picture of a company that was making it up as it went along, while telling regulators it had the full capability to deal with a major spill," Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., wrote in an e-mail to the AP. "We know that wasn't true."
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Legal experts say that to file criminal charges, the Justice Department will have to find evidence that BP or other companies involved in the deadly oil rig explosion and subsequent spill orchestrated a coverup, destroyed key documents or lied to government agents. Charges and civil penalties can be brought under a variety of environmental protection laws.
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In its Deepwater Horizon plan, the British oil giant stated: "BP Exploration and Production Inc. has the capability to respond, to the maximum extent practicable, to a worst case discharge, or a substantial threat of such a discharge, resulting from the activities proposed in our Exploration Plan."
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The plans contain wildly false assumptions about oil spills. BP's proposed method to calculate spill volume judging by the darkness of the oil sheen is way off. The internationally accepted formula would produce estimates 100 times higher.
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The Gulf's loop current, which is projected to help eventually send oil hundreds of miles around Florida's southern tip and up the Atlantic coast, isn't mentioned in either plan.
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There are other examples of how BP's plans have fallen short:
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- Beaches where oil washed up within weeks of a spill were supposed to be safe from contamination because BP promised it could marshal more than enough boats to scoop up all the oil before any deepwater spill could reach shore - a claim that in retrospect seems absurd.
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- BP's site plan regarding birds, sea turtles or endangered marine mammals ("no adverse impacts") also have proved far too optimistic. While the exact toll on the Gulf's wildlife may never be known, the effects clearly have been devastating.
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The obvious conclusion is that BP was lying and knew it was lying but simply did not give a damn. Some folks need to go to prison to ensure that no company in the future will dare to file such a false and cavalier document.