FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2010
Contact: Kristina Johnson, (415) 977-5619
Holly Shulman, (202) 674-8757
After Biggest Offshore Oil Spill in U.S. History, BP Must Be Held Accountable
Washington, DC - In response to the Department of Justice today filing suit
against BP and eight other companies responsible for the Gulf oil spill
disaster to recover billions of dollars from the largest offshore spill in U.S.
history, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club issued the
following statement:
"We applaud the Obama administration for taking steps to make sure BP pays
for the damage it did to the Gulf Coast. BP must be held fully accountable for
its recklessness and negligence - and pay the billions of dollars it owes in
cleanup costs.
Approximately 200 million gallons escaped from BP’s well, spreading across over
40,000 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico, oiling over 600 miles of coast and leading to the
loss of up to $22.7 billion in tourism over the next three years. BP has a
clear responsibility to the communities and lives it has devastated to pay what
it owes, so that the Gulf Coast can begin to recover.
This devastating man-made disaster provides a clarion call to move our nation
onto clean energy and off of dirty, outdated sources of energy like oil."
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