THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Because if they get the settlement approved, they get the money much sooner than if they go to trial, which would drag on through appeals if BP lost. While it would be fun to see BP get hammered by penalties and non-deductable fines, the governments position is understandable.

With a major civil trial scheduled to start Monday in New Orleans against BP over damages related to the explosion of an offshore drilling rig in 2010, federal officials and those from the five affected Gulf Coast states are trying to pull together to strike an 11th-hour settlement to resolve the case.

A lawyer briefed on those talks said that the Justice Department and the five states — Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas — have prepared an offer to resolve the two biggest issues central to series of trials against BP starting Monday.

Those issues are the fines that the company would pay for violations of the Clean Water Act related to the four million gallons of oil spilled after the rig, which it leased from Transocean, exploded. The primary issue is how much the company will have to pay for environmental damage caused by the oil to area, beaches, marshes, wildlife and fisheries.

The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday that federal and state officials were preparing a $16 billion settlement offer. “The ball is on BP’s side of the table,” said the lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to do so.

Both Justice Department officials and state officials could not be reached Saturday to comment on any possible offer.

A spokesman for BP, Geoff Morrell, said that the idea that the oil giant would accept a settlement demand of $16 billion was “far-fetched.” The most BP is liable for under the Clean Water Act is about $17.5 billion and the company is subject to billions more in other environmental damage penalties.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if they put something on the table at the 11th hour,” Mr. Morrell said. “But we’re going to trial Monday even if they put something on the table.”

The lawyer briefed on the talks said that one problem with the current proposal by federal and state officials was that it did not resolve economic damages claimed by the states related to the spill. Such claims could still leave BP on the hook for billons more, in addition to the environmental damages.

BP seems determined to go to trial. Let us hope that the trial result leaves BP wailing in sack cloth and ashes.