...If the proposed consent decree is approved after being submitted for public comment and then court-approval, BP will agree to pay $18.7 billion in fines...Mark Lyons, regional administrator for Oxfam America...tells Rolling Stone that "BP got off cheaply." He added, "The judge had already found gross negligence, and based on the Clean Water Act formulas, BP should have been looking at $13 to $18 billion for the oil spill alone. Add to that the natural resource damages...It's a bargain for BP." BP would seem to agree. BP's chief financial officer, Brian Gilvary, said in a press release, "The impact of the settlement on our balance sheet and cashflow will be manageable." This is because BP has already estimated total costs for all economic damages resulting from the disaster at some $43 billion...