Who Will Pay For Oil Spill Cleanup?
The Gulf oil spill has not been contained yet but already the Obama administration has stated BP is responsible for the cleanup costs. It is not so simple. The New York Times suggests that untangling liability will be necessary. In this case, BP, Transocean and Deepwater Horizon all have insurance protecting them against an accidental release of this nature. Yesterday, NPR posted an article suggesting Haliburtan may be responsible because they had cemented the well within 24 hours of the blow out, intimating that the cement had not sealed the well properly allowing hydrocarbons or liquids into the well upsetting hydrostatic balances. The litigation amongst potentially responsible parties and their insurers will ensue with the objective of covering as much of the clean up costs as possible through insurance. After all of that is resolved and the responsible parties have cleaned up the gulf as much as possible, Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) will come into play. An NRDA determ
