Oilmen are fast discovering that pollution cannot be dismissed as the price of progress. In the toughest federal action ever brought against a polluter, a grand jury in New Orleans last week indicted the Chevron Oil Co. on a 900-count criminal charge of having "knowingly and wilfully" failed to provide safety devices on 90 wells in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coastline.
If convicted, Chevron faces a possible fine of $2,000 a day for each well for ten days of violations. The total fines could reach $1,800,000.
"We are confident that when...
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