Not that big a deal, really.
BP killed 11 workers when the Deepwater Horizon rig blew up, and then it obstructed government investigators. That’s not editorializing — the company pled guilty to manslaughter and obstruction charges. Since you can’t imprison a corporation, it was punished in other ways. One of those punishments was a temporary ban on getting new federal contracts.
Never one to miss an opportunity to publicly whine about how unfair the world is for an explosion-prone petrochemical giant, BP sued the U.S. government on Monday over the suspension, arguing in court that it is arbitrary, capricious, and “an abuse of discretion.” From Fuel Fix:
BP … wants a judge to order the EPA to lift the suspension and allow BP to bid for and secure new government contracts.
The suspension, called a debarment, affects only new federal contracts, not existing ones. Because of it, however, BP has lost out on potentially billions of dollars of business with the U.S. government.
Among other things, the company was ineligible for new contracts worth up to $1.9 billion to provide fuel to the government this year.
Our hearts are just bleeding.
