Some in the corporate world are sure to get nervous over the idea of the Obama White House making sure that BP funds go into an escrow account to cover claims by Gulf Coast businesses and residents affected by the oil disaster. But there is no other option for the U.S. government to take given the track record of large businesses to make an end run around being ethical and moral. No one can just assume that BP will do the right thing, they must be backed into a wall and forced to ante up.
Legal experts struggled to come up with a precedent for such a move. Examples of government-run funds exist, but they differ from the proposal facing BP.
In the early 1980s the government passed Superfund legislation that would create a fund to pay for the cleanup of hazardous-waste dump sites.
Through the law, the Environmental Protection Agency can compel the polluter to clean up the site or pay for it through the Superfund and sue for reimbursement.
Around the same time, the first of about 40 trust funds were set up with court approval by Johns Manville Corp. and later other companies with asbestos liability to alleviate some of the problems of lengthy asbestos-related litigation. But their creation stemmed from bankruptcy proceedings for Johns Manville. The trusts now oversee about $20 billion in assets, a sum that has nearly tripled since 2005, consultants say.
Typically, corporations fund such victims accounts to settle class action lawsuits, although there have been a few examples of legislatively mandated funds such as the 9/11 victims fund, according to Howard Erichson, a law professor at Fordham University. “If the idea is to get BP to do this voluntarily, the question is what’s in it for them? Is there some liability protection in it for them?” Mr. Erichson said.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 
As the story says, the Feds can file a lawsuit. This is still America, and the government cannot just sieze funds from shareholders. Violations of fundamental rights always begins with those who are hated–like BP at the moment–and then extends itself to the rest of us. A
Whatever the federal government does be it ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ there is plenty of political cover for the Administration to operate.
From CBS News
Most Americans want BP to pay for all of the financial losses related to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, even if it drives the oil giant out of business, a new Gallup/ USA Today poll shows.
As many as 59 percent of those surveyed said the company should pay for everything no matter what, including lost wages for workers impacted by the spill. Another 38 percent said they want the company to pay for as much as possible while remaining viable.
Seven out of 10 Americans in the Gallup/ USA Today poll said Mr. Obama hasn’t been tough enough on BP.
Seven out of ten Americans may not think that Obama has been tough enough on BP, but when we establish a legal precedent for the government taking money away from companies because of a government-perceived disaster caused by that company, how many of the seven will think he is too tough when it is a company which affects their livelihood?
When it is the local utility or cable company, or the car plant in Detroit which provides thousands of Americans with Union jobs and benefits, how many people will think the government should stand back.
It is a slippery slope, and one of many small steps toward free reign for the government taken under Obama.
Did you really write “government-perceived disaster”? Or am I having a stroke on the installment plan?