The US government expects to level sanctions next week against BP, Transocean and Halliburton for their roles in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, top drilling regulator Michael Bromwich said Thursday.
The companies would receive "initial notices of incidents of non-compliance" that might or might not give specific dollar amounts for the penalties, added Melissa Schwartz, spokeswoman for the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, which Bromwich directs.
The documents would lay out violations of federal regulations and explain what the government considers an "incident" when leveling its maximum fine of $35,000 per day, per incident.
If based on the 87 days the Macondo well spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, each alleged violation would carry up to a $3 million penalty. Schwartz initially said the current maximum penalty of $40,000 per day, per incident would be imposed, but she corrected it to the $35,000 level in force at the time of the Macondo blowout.
The sanctions would be separate from civil penalties expected under the Clean Water Act.
A report released Wednesday by the Joint Investigation Team, made up of BOEM and the Coast Guard, laid out recommendations for how the government should hold the three companies accountable for their actions that led to the disaster.
Investigators said BP violated seven federal regulations, Transocean violated four, and Halliburton violated three.
The report said BP failed to: protect health, safety, property and the environment; prevent conditions that posed unreasonable risk to public health, life, property, aquatic life, wildlife, recreation, commercial fishing and other uses of the ocean; take necessary precautions to keep the well under control; maintain the blowout preventer; cement the well properly; use pressure integrity tests, and conduct a proper negative pressure test.
Transocean failed to: perform all operations in a safe manner and maintain safe equipment; prevent conditions that posed unreasonable risk to public health, life, property, etc.; take necessary precautions to keep the well under control, according to the report, and maintain the BOP.
Investigators said Halliburton failed to: prevent conditions that posed unreasonable risk to public health, life, property, etc.; take necessary precautions to keep the well under control, and properly cement the well.
The report cautions that the list is "not a comprehensive list of all potential violations."
Bromwich said Thursday that Congress must increase what he considers the "trivial" maximum penalty for companies that, by comparison, pay $500,000 to $1 million a day for rigs.
"It's in everyone's interest that you have system of fines and penalties that serve as a deterrent to bad conduct -- a specific deterrent so the violator gets smacked," he told reporters after testifying at the House Natural Resources Committee.
Bromwich declined to suggest what he considered a more appropriate maximum fine. "It's got to start in the six figures, not in the five figures," added.
