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Gulf Oil Spill | Coast Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Explosion Lawsuits

Gulf Oil Spill | Coast Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Explosion | Lawsuits, Lawyers | Injury, Damages, Losses | Fires, Exposure, Chemical Toxins, Business Interruption

The Louisiana Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion has produced a major oil spill, and has become a serious environmental catastrophe. Our oil rig explosion lawyers are aggressively investigating this disaster, and are planning to file lawsuits on behalf of anyone who suffered physical, economic or property damages because of this explosion and resulting oil spill. We are committed to holding BP PLC and Transocean LTD accountable for the damage caused by this tragic incident.

Our oil rig explosion lawyers are offering free case evaluations to individuals and businesses who suffered property damage, business interruption or any type of economic loss / hardship caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 allows individuals and entities impacted by oil spills to collect compensation for property loss, loss of income and other damages caused by such incidents. Parties deemed responsible for an oil spill are liable for such losses.

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion now ranks among the worst offshore drilling disasters in recent U.S. history. After burning for more than 36 hours, the offshore rig sunk into the Gulf of Mexico. At the time of its collapse, 13,000 gallons of crude oil per hour was spilling into the sea. By the following day, an oil spill measuring 100 square miles was drifting northeast toward shore.

At the same time, hope was fading that 11 men missing since the explosion would be found alive. If the missing men are not found alive, the Deepwater Horizon disaster would go down as the deadliest U.S. offshore rig explosion since 1968.

Environmental Damage from Oil Spills

The oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion is raising serious environmental concerns, and could threaten the fragile ecosystem of the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts. Those areas serve as nurseries for fish and shrimp and habitat for birds.

Oil spills are one of the worst environmental disasters, causing both short-term and long-term pollutant side effects. Consequences of oil spills include dead and dying wildlife, tarred beaches, damaged fisheries and contaminated water supplies. If oil waste reaches the shoreline or coast, it interacts with sediments such as beach sand and gravel, rocks and boulders, vegetation, and terrestrial habitats of both wildlife and humans, causing erosion as well as contamination.

Oil spills present the potential for enormous harm to deep ocean and coastal fishing and fisheries. The immediate effects of toxic and smothering oil waste may be mass mortality and contamination of fish and other food species, but long-term ecological effects may be worse. Oil waste poisons the sensitive marine and coastal organic substrate, interrupting the food chain on which fish and sea creatures depend, and on which their reproductive success is based. Commercial fishing enterprises may be affected permanently.

The Clean Water Act

Our oil rig spill lawyers are investigating the Deepwater Horizon disaster to determine if either BP PLC or Transocean LTD violated the federal Clean Water Act. In 1973, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established regulations to address the oil spill prevention provisions contained in the Clean Water Act. The regulation forms the basis of EPA's oil spill prevention, control, and countermeasures, or SPCC, program, which seeks to prevent oil spills from certain aboveground and underground storage tanks.

The regulation requires each owner or operator of a regulated facility to prepare an SPCC Plan. The Plan is required to address the facility's design, operation, and maintenance procedures established to prevent spills from occurring, as well as countermeasures to control, contain, clean up, and mitigate the effects of an oil spill that could affect navigable waters.

The regulations were revised on two occasions, in 1991 and 1994. The revisions incorporated new requirements added by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 that direct facility owners or operators to prepare, and in some cases submit to the federal government, plans for responding to a worst-case discharge of oil.

The Oil Pollution Act

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) was implemented in response to the Exxon Valdez disaster. It created a comprehensive prevention, response, liability, and compensation regime to deal with vessel- and facility-caused oil pollution to U.S. navigable waters. The oil rig explosion lawyers at our firm have represented hundreds of people negatively impacted by such incidents, and our knowledge of OPA liability provisions and other applicable laws has allowed us to obtain the greatest possible compensation for our clients.

Under federal law, all of the owners or other parties responsible for a vessel or a facility which causes an oil spill are liable for the removal costs and damages caused by the spill. Federal law also provides for liability of third parties if it is shown that the act or omission on the part of the third party caused an oil spill.

Under federal law, individuals can make the following oil spill damage claims:

Property Damage: Injury to or economic loss resulting from destruction of real property (land or buildings) or other personal property. Property damage claims can be made by people or entities that own or lease the damaged property. The costs of removing oil from your own property can also be included in property damage claims. Boat damage is included as a subset of property damage.

Loss of Profit and Earnings Capacity: Damages equal to the loss of profits or impairment of earning capacity due to the injury, destruction, or loss of property or natural resources. Anyone with loss of profits or income may make such a claim. You do not have to own the damaged property or resources to submit a claim under this category.

Loss of Subsistence Use of Natural Resources: These claims may be filed by individuals if natural resources you depend on for subsistence use purposes have been injured, destroyed, or lost by an oil spill incident. Again, you do not have to own or manage the natural resource to submit a claim under this category.

Legal Help for Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Claims

Individuals who suffered damages from the oil spill resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion need to obtain legal counsel with experience in the area of oil spill liability as soon as possible. The oil rig explosion lawyers at our firm have helped hundreds of people affected by such catastrophes, and we will work hard to make sure that your rights under the OPA and other federal laws are protected. Please fill out our online form or call 1-800 LAW INFO (1-800-529-4636) to discuss your case with an experienced oil rig explosion lawyer today.