All in favour, say I.

I just learnt that there are some movements that are trying to reduce the liabilities of oil companies when oil spills occur. For example, the article "Oil Spill Response at Issue in La.'s Senate Race," states that a US republican senator is currently being put under scrutiny by an opposing democratic candidate because the republican is "trying to protect companies like BP from financial liability in a massive oil spill." http://www.necn.com/10/07/10/Oil-spill-response-at-issue-in-Las-Senat/landing.html?&blockID=3&apID=d2a9ff8dcdc047f2a20ac912dfdb346a"

While this may very well be mere speculation caused by political rivalry, I do want to address the issue brought up by the accusations. Should oil companies have limited liability for their oil spills?  (limited liability is the economic jargon for : shouldn't be held legally responsible and thus subject to fines for their actions.)
Before you make any hasty decisions and comments, think about it. Our first instinct is to say HECK YA! But sometimes the circumstances for oil spills are different; sometimes the spill may occur as a result of worn out capital (e.g old pipelines and archaic oil pumps - as in the case of less economic powered countries). When an oil spill does occur in these cases, it is the fault of the oil companies for not replacing worn out capital. Because they could have prevented environmental damage and reduced costs to society of cleaning it up, or experiencing the loss of agricultural produce.
Now let's analyse the opposing side: Whenever oil tankers are covering thousands of miles by going from one country to another, or within a country e.g. from Alaska to Michigan, and the driver, for about 4 seconds, briefly nods off (it's an tediously long journey) and on the 5th second wearily opens his eyes to find a skunk in the middle of the road, his immediate reaction is to hit the brakes and swerves, which he then does. In swerving, the truck's tank detaches from the truck and into lake Superior.
Who to blame: The company- for employing that driver, or simply look at the event as a mistake? (the driver can't be blamed, because the company ultimately employed the driver). So in this case, should the company have limited liability and let the government handle all the costs of the oil spill or are they in anyway responsible? In the case of BP's oil spill in the Gulf, should BP really be held entirely accountable for the Cap breaking off under pressure or is it just a risk in oil drilling? When the oil tanker ABT Summer exploded about 900 miles off the coast of Angola, spilling its entire cargo of 1,905,800 barrels at sea, whose fault is that? 
facts - http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6511HJ20100604?pageNumber=1