BP Opens Second Containment System - NYTimes.com
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010If the new range of flow estimates proves correct, and if BP is ultimately found guilty of gross negligence in its actions leading to the disaster, the company could be assessed fines of up to $258 million a day.
via nytimes.com
The spill started on 4/22/2010, and it is now 6/15/2010. Even if BP ended the leak this very moment, it will have gone on for 54 days.
At $258 million per day, that’s ~$14 billion.
And that’s on top of their payments to Gulf Coast businesses. To my mind, this is one area where BP simply cannot skimp - better to be in the red this year than to endure the PR nightmare that will ensue if they are stingy. But I suppose I can’t even fathom the scale of this - is $14 billion enough? Not enough?