The U.S. is fighting a judge's decision that cut more than $4 billion from the maximum pollution penalties that BP Plc must pay for its 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the biggest offshore oil discharge in U.S. history (In re Oil Spill by the Oil Rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, E.D. La., No. MDL-2179, appeal 3/13/15). The spill size was set in January by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans at 3.2 million barrels. He also rejected claims that London-based BP was reckless in preparing for a disaster or had acted unreasonably in responding to the spill. The U.S. didn't say which part of the court ruling it is appealing in a notice filed Friday. The U.S. estimated the spill at 4.2 million barrels, which could have triggered a maximum $18 billion fine.
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