The Justice Department Sues BP

The Guardian's opinion website, Comment is free, has my quick take on the Justice Department's civil lawsuit against BP and other companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill:

A disaster as large as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico cannot be remediated through the courts – but we can still sue the bastards. This is America, after all.

While the suit may take years to wind its way through the courts, it has already had an effect on BP:

BP's shares fell 3% on the news of the lawsuit. With luck, the oil and gas companies' risk managers will look at the numbers and tell the engineers to tighten up on their safety procedures.

Three percent is a big drop in one day. Maybe the smart money will notice and force oil and gas companies to be more careful.