In Neodesha, Kansas, BP is a dirty word. Residents of that city, along with the county, the school district, and a pair of private landowners, are suing the corporation for $423 million. They allege that BP intentionally mislead the community by promising to clean up pollution left by their own company and their predecessors while they actually never intended to at all.
BP says the contamination is no big deal (and we're all shocked, I assure you). It was not, they argue, a result of negligence, and anyway the pollution doesn't "pose any health risk to people who live and work in Neodesha." Which is kind of a funny thing to claim, since pollutants found in the town include a number of known and suspected carcinogens and dangerous heavy metals. Well tests performed in 2003 found benzene in wells at levels thousands of times higher than what's considered safe. And then there's this: Investigators
discovered a layer of pure petrochemical sludge riding above the groundwater. The test wells estimated the sludge layer was up to two feet thick in several places, and was measured at almost six feet thick at one well.
The judge has set the bar fairly high -- In order to find in favor of the plaintiffs, the jury will have to feel that there's sufficient evidence that BP "carried out an intentional and well-rehearsed business plan to defraud the city and its residents and avoid paying for the removal of the pollution." My feeling is that, whether they never planned on cleaning up Neodesha's pollution or they were just putting it off a while longer, BP needs to roll up their sleeves and get down to the dirty business of cleaning up their mess.