BP is increasingly adding more lawyers to defend and protect its company. Since the oil spill that cost it billions, the EPA has suspended the company from receiving new federal contracts. Its existing contracts that are valuated at $1.3 billion are not affected. BP is claiming that while it has settled and has tried to make amends for its mistakes in the 2010 disaster that left beaches and atolls black and stinking of raw crude oil, the EPA and federal government are punishing it unfairly. SO BP will legally combat it, according to BusinessWeek.
The 2010 blowout killed 11 oilrig workers and let millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP has sold $40 billion in assets and has spent some $25 billion to cleanup and pay damages. Last year BP attempted to negotiate a settlement over the impact of the gulf states that would have been worth another $16 billion dollars, but the plan failed as Louisiana, one of the states most heavily affected, wanted more than that amount for its settlement. BP then agreed to pay $4 billion in penalties in a federal criminal plea bargain, and the company came to a separate multi-billion dollar settlement with another group of plaintiffs in 2012, according to businessweek.com
At this point, the Justice Department is seeking another $17.5 billion in additional damages, and BP is countering. Its attempts at negotiation have failed and now it sues the EPA. This will most likely prove to be a lengthy and expensive case.