Dear Gecko, Is Greed Really Good? (The BP Oil Spill Trial Begins...)

Left: Activists protest outside the New Orleans, Louisiana trial. Right: An oil-coated bird in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit." But, evidently, greed also dumps 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. 

Today, three years after a rig explosion caused the largest crude oil spill in American history, the trial against BP finally met an array of federal and state prosecutors in court. The New York Times reports that the trial will focus on questions about BP's share of responsibility in the disaster as well as "a last-minute settlement proposal offered by the Justice Department and the five affected gulf states — Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas — that are demanding that BP pay $16 billion in spill-related fines and penalties." The company has already pleaded to criminal charges and paid roughly $4 billion in fines (which The Los Angeles Times notes is "the largest environmental penalty in U.S. history"), but BP may face up to $17 billion in fines if the court finds evidence to support that it was "recklessly negligent" — and thus far, it is clear that prosecutors intend to prove just that.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the prosecution illustrated a picture of heedless malfeasance, saying, “With the drilling of its deepwater Macondo well running behind schedule and $50 million over budget, energy giant BP was under intense financial pressure to save money, setting in motion a reckless disregard for safety that led to the [spill]… BP officials were portrayed as placing profits over safety and encouraging a ‘culture of entrepreneurial risk-taking.’” (Hmm... reminds me of Gecko's "essence of the evolutionary spirit...")

The evidence cited to support the claim that BP and its contracted partners (Transocean, Halliburton, and Cameron International) were "cutting corners" includes seemingly below-standard rig equipment, a captain and crew untrained in the rig's emergency systems, and failure to maintain key safety accessories, notes The Wall Street Journal. Luther James, Alabama's attorney general, has already proclaimed, "BP was blinded by greed... To BP, money mattered most. Greed devastated the gulf."

Do you agree with James that "[g]reed devastated the gulf?" Is greed really good, or is it just good for business? 

TL;DR? Greed may be good... but it isn't green.