A little while back the talk of the town was a little thing called the liability cap, a legally enshrined maximum amount an (oil) company could forced to pay to the government in the event of a catastrophic oil spill or other environmental disaster. Every news outlet buzzed about what Congress should do; Congress boiled with debate. All over the issue of whether or not it was conscionable to augment the arbitrary decision to limit liability for environmental catastrophes to 75 million dollars.

Today however, the news is that the White House is officially collecting the 4th of many payments from BP, sending a bill for $99.7 million to BP, Transocean, Anadarko and MOEX.

Remember, wary traveler, BP voluntarily acquiesced in deciding to pay any and all costs of the spill. Our government had no legal framework upon which they could compel BP to do so. BP chose to own up.

Powers of coercion have quite the heavy burden when they are trusted to an entity larger than ourselves, but then again, the weight of the crude pressing upon the surface of our shores and floating in stasis in our waters bears its own unique burden. Why does that burden become coupled with political theater the second it reaches the Congress?