Forget about the $75m cap - it doesn't apply in cases of negligence or misconduct. That was only newsworthy when BP's 'oh no, what a terrible surprise' posture seemed credible.
That liability cap does apply to negligence. It applies to any civil suits. However, it does not apply to criminal charges, and the DoJ has intimated that it may pursue criminal charges against someone in this.
Even if the liability cap is pierced during this particular incident, that's still orthogonal to the impact it has had on the behavior of exploration up until now.
(c) Exceptions
(1) Acts of responsible party
Subsection (a) [incl the $75m cap] of this section does not apply if the incident was proximately caused by—
(A) gross negligence or willful misconduct of, or
(B) the violation of an applicable Federal safety, construction, or operating regulation by, the responsible party, an agent or employee of the responsible party, or a person acting pursuant to a contractual relationship with the responsible party (except where the sole contractual arrangement arises in connection with carriage by a common carrier by rail). [...]
You may be right about that, but again what happens in response to the gulf situation is orthogonal to this entire thread of discussion. BP has been racking up tens of millions in fines over the years, but they've been spending those millions to make billions.
Financially, they are incented to cut corners and risk paying MMS the occasional $25k, when the drilling platform costs $500k/day.
