"Some leading analysts and legal observers believe the highly anticipated 'trial of the century' over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, set to begin in three weeks, will end before it starts. BP and negotiators for federal and state governments are frantically working to confect a settlement so they won't have to leave the fate of billions of dollars in potential pollution fines and spill damage payments in the hands of U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier."
"The experts all agree any settlement would have to be a 'global settlement' -- one that will resolve federal civil fines under the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and other laws; compensate federal and state governments for damages to natural resources; and settle any criminal violations as well.
A whole other settlement effort deals with the thousands of private claims that are also part of the sweeping litigation, but those claims, expected to amount to a few billion dollars at most, are a relatively small part of the case."
David Hammer reports for the New Orleans Times-Picayune February 5, 2012.
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