British Petroleum has been fined $4.5 billion because of the widespread Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010.  Two workers, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, also face manslaughter charges.

The manslaughter charges for seemingly ignoring warnings that there were abnormally high-pressure readings at the plant that lead to the explosion which killed 11 people.

I am glad that they will be punished for the massive amounts of oil that littered the surrounding landscape. If I can get fined for dropping a chip bag out of my car, than a corporation should be fined for dropping an estimated 190 million gallons of oil into the ocean.

I am happy that it is also a large enough fine that the company will have to make sure that nothing like this can happen again, or if it does be able to invest more in a quick clean up.

I hope that more oil companies can learn from BP’s mistakes and be sure to not repeat them in the future. And I think a fine this large will be enough to push at least a few in the right direction.