FILE - In this April 21, 2010 aerial file photo taken in the Gulf of Mexico more than 50 miles southeast of Venice, La., the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is seen burning. A U.S. judge on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, approved an agreement for British oil giant BP PLC to plead guilty to manslaughter and other charges and pay a record $4 billion in criminal penalties for the company's role in the 2010 oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
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FILE - In this April 21, 2010 aerial file photo taken in the Gulf of Mexico more than 50 miles southeast of Venice, La., the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is seen burning. A U.S. judge on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, approved an agreement for British oil giant BP PLC to plead guilty to manslaughter and other charges and pay a record $4 billion in criminal penalties for the company's role in the 2010 oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
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FILE - In a Wednesday, April 20, 2011 file photo, people gather near crosses -11 for the workers who died in the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and one for the Gulf of Mexico, center - during a vigil to mark the first anniversary of the BP PLC oil spill on a beach in Grand Isle, La. A U.S. judge on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, approved an agreement for British oil giant BP PLC to plead guilty to manslaughter and other charges and pay a record $4 billion in criminal penalties for the company's role in the 2010 oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
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FILE - In this April 21, 2010 file aerial photo, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns in the Gulf of Mexico. The Justice Department has reached a $1.4 billion settlement with Transocean Ltd., the owner of the drilling rig that sank after an explosion killed 11 workers and spawned the massive 2010 oil spill in the gulf. On Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, two people with knowledge of the negotiations say Switzerland-based Transocean would pay the money to resolve the department's civil and criminal probe of the company's role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
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FILE - This Wednesday, April 21, 2010 file photo shows oil in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, as a large plume of smoke rises from fires on BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig. An April 20, 2010 explosion at the offshore platform killed 11 men, and the subsequent leak released an estimated 172 million gallons of petroleum into the gulf. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
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U.S. Attorney General speaks about the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill settlement and criminal penalties at 400 Poydras Tower in the Central Business District of in New Orleans, La. Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. Holder said the settlement and indictments aren't the end of federal authorities' efforts and that the criminal investigation is continuing. Holder says much of the money BP has agreed to pay will be used to restore the environment in the Gulf. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)
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FILE-In this Tuesday, July 27, 2010, file photo, a Greenpeace activist puts up a banner as they block off a British Petroleum fuel station in protest as the BP board announce their annual results, in London. A BP executive has been indicted on charges that he lied to authorities about his work estimating the rate oil was flowing during the 2010 Gulf oil spill disaster. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, FIle)
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FILE - In this April 21, 2010 file image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon. British oil company BP said Thursday Nov. 15, 2012 it is in advanced talks with U.S. agencies about settling criminal and other claims from the Gulf of Mexico well blowout two years ago. In a statement, BP said "no final agreement has yet been reached" and that any such deal would still be subject to court approvals. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, File)
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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, center, arrives at a press conference followed by Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West, far left, and lead by Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer, top right, to speak about the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill settlement and criminal penalties in New Orleans, La. Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. Holder said the settlement and indictments aren't the end of federal authorities' efforts and that the criminal investigation is continuing. Holder says much of the money BP has agreed to pay will be used to restore the environment in the Gulf. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)
Judge to rule on Transocean's plea deal over spill
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge was expected to decide Thursday whether to approve
Transocean Ltd.'s agreement with the Justice Department to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge and pay $400 million in criminal penalties for its role in the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo has said she either will accept Transocean's guilty plea and impose the agreed-upon sentence or reject it and allow the Swiss-based drilling company to withdraw from the deal. She can't order changes to terms of the settlement.
Transocean agreed last month to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating the Clean Water Act. In addition to the $400 million in criminal penalties, the company also agreed to pay $1 billion in civil penalties. A different judge will decide whether to accept that part of the settlement.
In a court filing last week, lawyers for the company and the federal government wrote that the deal represents "fair, just, and appropriate corporate punishment for Transocean's role in the largest environmental disaster in United States history."
Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which sank after an explosion killed 11 workers and triggered the spill in April 2010. BP PLC leased the rig from Transocean. BP's Macondo well spewed more than 200 million gallons after the blowout a mile under the Gulf surface off the Louisiana coast.
Much of the $1.4 billion Transocean agreed to pay will fund environmental-restoration projects and spill-prevention research and training.
BP separately agreed to pay a record $4 billion in criminal penalties and has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other criminal charges related to the spill. The deal with BP, which U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance approved last month, doesn't resolve the federal government's civil claims against the London-based oil company.
Last week's court filing says the failure by BP rig supervisors and Transocean crew members to properly investigate abnormally high pressure readings during a crucial safety test, called a negative test, was a "proximate cause" of the blowout and spill. But it was BP that determined whether and how the testing would be conducted, the filing adds.
"BP, through its (supervisors) stationed on the Deepwater Horizon, was responsible for supervising the negative testing, and had the ultimate responsibility to ensure all operations, including the negative test, were conducted safely and according to the industry standard of care," it says.
The $400 million in criminal penalties Transocean agreed to pay would be the second-highest criminal environmental recovery in U.S. history, trailing only BP's $4 billion payment.
The company has two years to pay the $1 billion civil penalty. Transocean previously announced it had reserved $2 billion for paying claims tied to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Transocean also said in a September regulatory filing that it rejected settlement offers last year from BP and a group of lawyers representing Gulf Coast residents and businesses who blame the spill for economic damage. Those claims are still pending.
The first phase of a trial scheduled to start Feb. 25 is designed to identify the causes of BP's Macondo well blowout and assign percentages of fault to the companies involved.
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