A U.S. court ruling that dramatically ramped up BP Plc’s potential penalties for the 2010 Gulf oil spill could create new liability risks not just for deep water drillers but also for other industries like mining and nuclear power generation. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday found that BP was guilty of “gross negligence” ahead of the rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. The April 20, 2010 blast killed 11 workers and spewed millions of barrels of oil for nearly three months. The “gross negligence” designation could quadruple BP’s federal financial penalties, adding as much as $18 billion to the bill for worst offshore environmental disaster in U.S. history. BP said it would appeal the decision, arguing that “the law is clear that proving gross negligence is a very high bar that was not met in this case.” Legal […]