BP Wants Legal Claims Dismissed

 Bloomberg News reports BP PLC has asked Federal Judge Carl Barbier to throw out the majority of lawsuits filed against the company by gulf coast residents and businesses claiming economic distress resutling from year's Deepwater Horizon disaster.   The Transocean drilling rig exploded April 20th of last year, killing 11 workers and causing the worst oil spill in US history. The rig was contracted to BP at the time.

Oyster beds and fisheries were closed for nearly the entire summer while the Macondo well gushed unchecked. Hotels along the gulf coast were beset with cancellations en masse.  BP contends the resulting legal claims are pre-empted by the Oil Pollution Act Of 1990.