NEW ORLEANS, June 27 (UPI) -- British energy company BP must answer to the U.S. government, not advocacy groups, when dealing with environmental issues in the Gulf of Mexico, a court said.
BP faces more than 100,000 claims from last year's deadly accident at its Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. A gas explosion sunk the rig, killing 11 workers and leading to one of the worst environmental disasters in the history of the industry.
A consortium of environmental groups challenged BP in the New Orleans court handling the cases. U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier, the overseeing judge, said any changes to decisions on operations in the gulf were at this point moot.
"Moreover, BP and the agencies comprising the Unified Area Command have been and are cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico," he ruled. "An injury is not redressable by a citizen suit when the injury is already being addressed."
It's the U.S. government, not any third party, that must address any "potential deficiency" in cleanup operations in the Gulf of Mexico, Barbier was quoted by The Daily Telegraph in London as saying.
BP last week said oil services company Weatherford agreed to pay $75 million to settle potential claims tied to last year's oil spill.
BP officials said the settlement lets both companies put their legal issues surrounding the spill behind them.
