The U.S. Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against BP Exploration and Production and eight other companies that were involved in the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the suit names BP, Anadarko Exploration & Production, Anadaro Petroleum Corp., MOEX Offshore 2007, Triton Asset Leasing GMBH, Transocean Holdings, Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Transocean Deepwater Inc., and QBE Underwriting Ltd./Lloyd's Syndicate 1036.
The lawsuit seeks to hold defendants liable without limitation for all the cleanup costs and damage caused to natural resources. The suit claims the defendants violated the Clean Water Act, except for QBE/Lloyd's, which is BP's insurer and is being sued under the Oil Pollution Act.
The government's suit claims the defendants did not kept the Macondo well under control leading up to the rig explosion and that they all failed to use the best and safest technology while drilling.
More than 300 lawsuits against BP and other defendants relating to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill have been filed. They have been consolidated under one multi-district litigation presided over by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier.
Federal Case 10-md-2179
Fed sues BP and others in response to oil spill
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