BP was accused Monday of willful misconduct and gross negligence in the deadly explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 as a trial in which billions of
dollars are at stake opened.
The US Justice Department and the states said they would prove the accusations, particularly the gross negligence charge, in light of evidence showing the primary cause for the disaster was a corporate culture that disregarded safety in pursuit of profit.
The government and several Gulf states are suing the oil giant to determine liability in the explosion, which killed 11 workers in April 2010 and resulted in the worst oil spill in US history.
The government aims to prove gross negligence in order to maximize the amount of damages it can potentially win under the Clean Water Act.
Lawyers for the government and the states laid out their plans to argue that the company ignored critical warning signs and endangered the lives of workers on the rig, which was trying to drill several thousand metres into the earth through a well positioned more than 1,700 metres under water.
The lawyers said BP was the primary cause for the disaster. The evidence that will be presented all points to a corporate culture of disregard for safety, the lawyers said.
Justice Department lawyer Michael Underhill said a long series of missteps and reckless decisions by BP will prove gross negligence.
Underhill pointed to an email exchange only three days before the explosion in which drilling engineers on the Deepwater Horizon said they were "flying by the seat of their pants" as they tried to "make sense of all the insanity."
As the drilling engineers conducted a crucial pressure test, one of them informed his superior at BP's offices in Houston that "the operation is not going to succeed if we continue in this manner."
Underhill said any safety-minded company would have shut down the operation immediately, but BP was blinded by losses that the high-risk operation had already run up.
An even more crucial piece of evidence that BP's actions were gross negligence was an email in which BP engineer Brett Cocales wrote after the test, "Who cares, it's done, end of story will
probably be fine."
Opening statements began earlier Monday before district judge Carl Barbier and were expected to last into Tuesday.
If it can be determined that BP acted with gross negligence, then it would be required by law to pay up to 17 billion dollars, or 4,300 dollars per barrel of crude oil leaked. If gross negligence cannot be proved, the fine would be about 5 billion dollars, or 1,100 dollars per barrel.
A lawyer for many individuals suing BP argued first on Monday, saying safety concerns abounded ahead of the accident.
"The rig was not in a condition to start drilling a well," said Jim Roy, representing many of the non-government plaintiffs.
The trial will expose a high risk-taking culture that was "loss-averse rather than risk-averse," he said, calling it a "culture of cost-cutting, profits over safety and taking high risks."
BP's bill for the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and spill has already reached 38 billion dollars, but the company still faces the possibility of more costs associated with the disaster.
Last week, BP's lead lawyer, Rupert Bondy, signaled that the company was ready to fight the gross negligence accusation. However, reports at the weekend indicated negotiations seeking a settlement continued even to Sunday. BP has said the government is making excessive demands.
Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell also testified Monday, saying 1 million barrels of oil is still unaccounted for in the Gulf and "visibly retrievable" oil is recovered weekly from Louisiana shores. He said BP should be made the pay the highest penalty allowed
by law.
"This is a continuing tragedy to this very date and tomorrow," said Caldwell.