Would he or she be charged with criminal negligence as in this case:
In 1994, petitioner Edward Hanousek, Jr., was employed by the Pacific & Arctic Railway and Navigation Company as the roadmaster of the White Pass & Yukon Railroad. In that capacity, petitioner supervised a rock quarrying project at a site known as “6-mile,” which is located on an embankment 200 feet above the Skagway River six miles outside of Skagway, Alaska. During rock removal operations, a backhoe operator employed by Hunz & Hunz, an independent contractor retained before petitioner was hired, accidentally struck a petroleum pipeline near the railroad tracks. The operator’s mistake caused the pipeline to rupture and spill between 1,000 and 5,000 gallons of oil into the river.
Petitioner, who was off duty and at home when the accident occurred, was indicted and convicted under the Clean Water Act (CWA or Act), 86 Stat. 859, 33 U.S.C. § 1319(c)(1)(A), 1321(b)(3), for negligently discharging oil into a navigable water of the United States.1 Petitioner was fined $5,000 and sentenced to sequential terms of six months imprisonment, six months in a halfway house, and six months of supervised release. On appeal, petitioner argued, among other things, that it would violate his due process rights to impose criminal liability for ordinary negligence in discharging oil into the river.
The Supreme Court refused to hear Mr. Hanousek's appeal 7-2. He was sent to jail for criminally, negligently, dumping oil in navigable waters. He didn't do it himself, it was probably an accident, but he was held responsible.
Since BP is a corporate "person" we may as well blame my Aunt Ellistine for the disaster. Her pension fund owns some BP stock. I'm sick of talking about BP as if it were a real, incredibly evil person. I want the names of actual people. So should the media. So should Ignacia S. Moreno.