We will be forced to austerity. It will be pledged upon us. We ought to be doing that now before that happens rather than when somebody else is telling us what we are going to do. Thank you. Coming up next, attorney general holder releases the details of the 4. 5 billion in the bp oil sediment. Ed markey reacted to the settlement with bp. That is followed up by president obama touring a Hurricane Sandy damage in new york. In 2010, the deep water rights and rid explosion was the worst oil spill. Rig explosion was the worst oil spill. There was a 4. 5 billion settlement case. This briefing is half an hour. Good afternoon. Im here with the assistant attorney general from the Justice Department and the security and Exchange Commission of enforce. And head of deep water verizon task force and announcing the latest step forward in our ongoing efforts to achieve justice for those whose lives and livelihoods were impacted by the largest environmental disaster in the history of the United States. And to hold accountable those bore responsibility for this tragedy. Today in United States state District Court here in louisiana in new orleans the Department Filed a 14 count information charging b. P. With eleven counts of felony manslaughter. One count of felony obstruction of justice and violations of the clean water and Migratory Bird treaty acts in connection with the deep Water Horizon Oil spill that began in april of 2010. B. P. Has agreed to plead guilty to all 14 criminal charges including responsibility for the deaths of eleven people and the events that led to an unprecedented environmental catastrophe. The company has also agreed to pay 4 billion in fines understand penalties. This marks both the largest single criminal fine, more than 1. 25 billion and the largest total criminal resolution 4 billion in the history of the United States. Its stands as a testament to the hard work countless investigators, attorneys, support Staff Members and other persons from the deep water horizon task force and state and local agencies who have worked to advance a complex and wide ranging investigation that began even before the oil well was capped. And it constitutes a major environmental achievement of fulfilling a promise that i made here in new orleans along with my colleagues nearly two years ago to engage with our partners and count parts to determine the cause of this disaster, to respond its consequences and seek justice on behalf of the victims and to enable gulf residents to recover and rebuild. To this end, under the terms of the agreement we announced today about 2. 4 billion of the funds will be dedicated to Environmental Restoration preservation and conservation efforts throughout this region including Barrier Island creation right here in louisiana. An additional 350 million will aid in the development of state of the art Oil Spill Prevention and response technologies, Education Research and training. And more than 1 billion will go to the United States coast guard trust fund to be available for clean up and compensation for those affected by oil spills in the gulf and throughout the United States. Now as part of its guilty plea b. P. Will retain a monitor for four years who will oversee safety and maintenance in regard to drilling in the gulf as well as an independent auditor who will conduct annual reviews to ensure compliance with the terms of this agreement. The company will hire an ethics monitor to improve its its conduct and foster robust cooperation with the government. Now there can be no question that this historic announcement is a critical step forward and under scores the justice determination to stand with gulf coast communities. In february the settlement tote ling 90 million related to the companys clean water act liability for the deep water horizon disaster. And approximately 45 million of this total will go directly to the gulf in the form of penalties. But our work is far from over. In the trips that my colleagues and that i have made to the gulf coast since the spill, we have seen the damage to lives and businesses as well as to coastal areas and wetlands that this tragedy has inflicted. We understand the tremendous cost both economic and environmental that have been associated with this disaster and weve been inspired by the resilience displayed by each gulf coast resident who has been affected. Thats why i want to be absolutely clear that todays resolution does not mark the end of our efforts. In fact our criminal investigation remains ongoing and we will continue to follow all credible leads and pursue any charges that are warranted. In addition to the charges filed against b. P. A federal grand jury has also returned an indictment regarding the two highest ranking b. P. Supervisors who were on board on the day of the explosion with 23 criminal accounts, including eleven counts of manslaughter. Eleven counts of Involuntary Manslaughter and alleged violations of the clean water act. The grand jury has also charged a former b. P. Who served as a deputy Incident Commander and b. P. s second highest ranking employee at has charged him from hiding information from congress and allegedly lying to Law Enforcement officials. These and other matters remain open including a separate civil action pending in federal court here in new orleans. We are looking forward to the trial which is scheduled to begin in february of next year which we intend to prove that b. P. Was grossly neglect in causing the oil spill. We are seeking Civil Penalties and a judgment that b. P. Is liable for cost and Natural Resource damages that could amount to billions of dollars. But we have been unable to resolve the civil case. We remain as determined as ever to hold those responsibility accountable. In addition to my colleagues we are firmly committed to combating fraud by investigating and prosecuting those who attempt to gain profits at a terrible tragedy. I want to thank the leaders local officials and Agency Partners and gulf coast residents who have contributed to this work and have made this announcement possible. Id like to turn this over to the assistant attorney general of the Criminal Division who will provide Additional Details about todays action. Thank you mr. Attorney general. In april of 2010 the nation witnessed an unimaginable tragedy when the deep Water Horizon Oil rig exploded in the gulf of mexico. Eleven people aboard the rig died which and there began and oil began at that point pouring out of the well and on to the sea floor for months causing immense damage to the gulf region and to our ecosystem. The communities here in new orleans and around the gulf have waited patiently for justice to be done. Today their wait is over. The deep water horizon task fours filed a 14 count information and guilty plea agreement in new Orleans Federal Court earlier today. It charges b. P. Exploration and production with eleven counts of felony manslaughter, violations of environmental laws including the clean water act and the Migratory Bird act and obstruction of congress. B. P. Has agreed to plead guilty to each of those 14 counts and to pay the highest criminal fine in United States history. Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that the deaths of the eleven men on board the deep water horizon could have been avoided. Explosion of the rig was a disaster that resulted from their culture of privileging profit over prudence and we allege that the senior members on board the rig negligently caused the explosion. We hope the acknowledgment of b. P. Of its misconduct to plead guilty to eleven counts of felony manslaughter brings some measure of justice to the family members of the people who died on the rig. As the oil spill continued b. P. Made a tragic situation worse. They began Misleading Congress and the American People about how much oil was pouring out of the well. As b. P. Now admits in responding to congress t company lied and with held documents in order to make it seem as though the oil was spilling, that less damage was being done to the environment than in fact was really occurring. Acknowledging those lies, b. P. Has agreed to plead guilty to felony obstruction of congress. Make no mistake. While the company is guilty, individuals committed these crimes. And we have also unsealed today a 23 count indictment charging b. P. s two highest ranking supervisors aboard the deep water horizon with manslaughter and violation of the clean water act. The indictment charges the two b. P. Well site leaders with negligent and gross negligence on 2010. The red flags indicating that the well was not secure both men failed to take appropriate action to prevent the blow out. A separate indictment was also unsealed today charging a former senior b. P. Expect sive with obstruction of a investigation and making false statements to Law Enforcement officials. The indictment alleges that he on behalf of b. P. Intentionally under estimated the amount of oil flowing from the well. He allegedly cherry picked pages from documents, with held other documents al together and lied to congress and others to make this spill appear less catastrophic than it was. The attorney general stood near here with didnt officials when he first opened this criminal investigation into this terrible oil spill. And promised that we would thoroughly investigate and hold to account those responsibility for this horrible tragedy. Today weve begun doing exactly that and tomorrow and in the months to come the deep water horizon task force will continue to tire leslie pursue justice in tirelessly pursue justice in this matter. Id like to personally thank Task Force Director john beretta who has done an absolutely remarkable job in leading this investigation as well as the many fine prosecutors from the Criminal Division, the environment and Natural Resources division, the u. S. Attorney community and the many talented federal and state Law Enforcement agents who have worked so hard for so long to develop these cases. I would like to thank our colleagues at the securities and Exchange Commission for their important parallel investigation. With that i would like to turn it over now to my friend and colleague, the director of enforcement at the f. C. C. Thank you. Thank you. Im director of enforcement at the f. C. C. Today we are announcing that b. P. Has agreed to pay more than a half billion dollars that it misled investigators about the rate of oil flowing during the deep water horizon disaster. The 525 million penalty represents the Third Largest civil penalty ever assessed and those funds will be used to compensate harmed investors for losses sustained from this fraud. B. P. Misrepresented in f. C. C. Filings that the oil spill flow rate was estimated to be up to 5,000 barrels of oil per day and that was the current estimate. In fact b. P. Was in position of numerous analysis where 5,000 was at the lowest end of the range and those same analysis had upper ranges that were many multiples of 5,000 barrels. According to our complaint b. P. Executives made public statements in which they stood behind the flow rate of 5,000 barrels despite an ever growing body of evidence that the estimate was unreasonably low. They dismissed higher estimates reached by third Party Scientist and they realized it was nearly ten times the amount that b. P. Estimated. The spill and concealment of the truth by b. P. Caused devastating loss to the victims and environment and under mined the truth seeking function of congress. And by hiding the severity of the spill b. P. Caused another type of harm that is our focus. Harm to the shareholders, to the investing public and market all of which are entitled to transparent and complete and Accurate Information. The eyes of the world were on b. P. In the spring and summer of 2010, the company had an opportunity to provide accurate disclosure about the facts needed by the public to make informed decision about investment and they chose to mislead the public. That is not what we expect from Public Companies and their management and it is in times of congress the need for Accurate Information is most acute. I want to recognize the hard work of the f. C. C. Staff that conducted this investigation including brian thomas and mat ralph. They are the kind of Public Servants that americans can be proud of. I want to thank the members of the deep water horizon task force. And i want to thank the leadership of the department of justice, the attorney general, associate attorney general for their leadership in this investigation. Thank you. Well be glad to respond to any questions you might have. \[inaudible] let me answer that and ill turn it to the associate attorney general who has been responsible there. We have been in negotiations with b. P. We have not reached a number that i considered satisfactory in order to resolve those civil claims that we have. We have a trial set for february. We are planning to vigorously enforce our complaint at the. There is the possibility i suppose that further negotiations could result in a resolution. The only thing i would add is just that the attorney general has said repeatedly b. P. Is exposed to billions of dollars for the harm that they have caused to gulf coast and the region and we are prepared to take that case to trial and vigorously pursue our civil case. Is there a difference in the penalty per barrel spilled when you go with a negligent standard or gross negligent standard . The distinction is applicable on one side and you have 1100 per barrel penalty. That gets up to 45e00 per barrel and the standard of law is the difference between violating a duty of care and wanton and reckless conduct. What does this settlement mean for the families of those who died and for all of those who have been impacted by this oil spill . Those lives are irreplaceable and there is nothing we can do to bring those loved ones back. On the other hand this is an indication and perhaps a vindication that we have shown and the company has admitted that as a result of their actions people died there unnecessarily, manslaughter. Manslaughter has been charged and manslaughter has been pled to. I would hope that would bring some degree of comfort by way of explanation as to why those brave people lost their lives. But at the end of the day, we cant bring them back and i think what we can certainly glean from what has happened here in terms of what we have charged and what the company pled to is those deaths were unnecessary. Are any of those fines tax deductible . They are not. The attorney general was clear that nothing in the criminal settlement could be tax deductible nor an offset to any further civil resolution and that was a very explicit term of the agreement at the request of the attorney general. Mr. Attorney general you said the criminal investigation is ongoing s. That possible that other b. P. Employees or executives will be charged in the future. Ongoingan investigation, thats exactly right. This doesnt clear b. P. Employees . All i will say today is weve resolved it with the company and weve charged three individuals and we have an Ongoing Investigation. Mr. Holder, we keep hearing about the historic nature of these criminal penalties but we heard the same thing pretty much 7 years ago. It seems like environmental cases of this nature fall like nfl passing records. What deterrent do you expect this to have in the fine you announced today . You have to understand the totality of what we announced today. There are penalties historic in nature. A company has pled guilty to criminal felony charges, manslaughter. Individuals have been charged as well. Everything that we are capable of doing in the criminal sphere we have done today. And this is unprecedented both with regard to the amount of money, the fact that a company has been criminally charged and individuals have been charged as well. And as lanny brewer indicated the criminal investigation is ongoing. I hope this sends a clear message to those who would engage in this conduct that there will be a significant penalty to pay and individuals who are engaged in these kind of activities will be held responsible. This is not a corporate plea. Individuals have been charged. Mr. Attorney general, do you have anything to say about a senior prosecutor resigning and another demoted because they were making comments about ongoing cases in their offices on the internet. I am aware of those charges. But seen the press reports i dont think it would be appropriate for me to comment beyond that. Are you confident that this will change that culture at b. P. That was present at the time of the explosion . I am optimistic that it will. I would hope that it will. There is a monitor in place to ensure that in fact that culture does change. I think that the company must be given some credit for the way in which they did respond to the spill in putting together that 20 billion fund and the amounts of money they have expended to fund restoration. So that is an indication that the contract mind set has changed but there are mechanisms in place to ensure that changes something that infuses, that changes a culture the corporation. Could you address how this guilty plea today affects the ongoing civil litigation and the determination whether this is gross negligence. Will this be a f