I'm still trying to figure out the extent to which the 1990 Oil Pollution Act $75 million cap on liabilities above and beyond clean-up costs is binding. This helps a little:

BP's liabilities may be capped by a federal rule that limits the payouts for economic damages stemming from an oil spill to $75 million. Once that threshold is reached, a federal fund kicks in, covering an additional $1 billion. The federal fund is paid for by a 8-cents-a-barrel tax on oil produced or imported into the Untied States.

Then again, BP may not be able to use the liability shield. Carl Nelson, a Tampa-based maritime lawyer, said the $75 million cap only applies when a company has no violations related to an accident. That rarely happens. BP will almost certainly be found to be at fault in some way for the spill.

To ward off any confusion, lawmakers in the House and Senate have introduced bills raising the liability cap from $75 million to $10 billion, an initiative they've dubbed the "Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act." Lawmakers say there's precedent for making the law retroactive: Witness the Superfund, which forced polluters to reimburse the government for toxic cleanup.

via money.cnn.com

My guess is, someone will find violations galore. But that's just a guess.
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