BP attempt to shift Clean Water Act liability in oil spill rejected by appeals court

A federal appeals court has refused to reconsider its 2014 ruling that BP cannot avoid federal penalties for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill by blaming another company's failed equipment.

The vote released Friday by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans was 7-6 against a rehearing.

BP was majority owner of the Macondo well, where the leased Deepwater Horizon rig exploded. BP and minority partner Anadarko had argued they should not face federal Clean Water Act penalties because the oil leaked not from the well but from the broken underwater riser that had connected the well to the rig owned by Transocean Ltd. A district judge and the appeals court disagreed.

A trial is set for later this month to determine Clean Water Act penalties.