Chevron should have known better. If you want to crap in the ocean, the place to do it is in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana. Washington knows how to treat a guy who has a little accident, especially if he’s an oil company. (Corporations are guys in America. It’s the law.)

From Reuters:

BRASILIA (Reuters) – The Brazilian government on Wednesday suspended Chevron Corp’s drilling rights in Brazil until it clarifies the causes of an offshore oil spill, the latest twist in a political firestorm threatening the U.S. company’s role in Brazil’s oil bonanza…

Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency said it decided to halt Chevron’s drilling rights after determining that there was evidence that the company had been “negligent” in its study of data needed to drill and in contingency planning for abandoning the well in the event of accident.

The agency, known as ANP, also rejected a request from Chevron made before the leak to drill wells in the deeper subsalt areas in the Frade field where the spill occurred. The field is located in the oil-rich Campos Basin and is the only block in Brazil where Chevron produces oil as the operator…

The second-largest U.S. oil company has already been fined $28 million by Brazil’s environmental agency for the spill, an amount that is sure to rise sharply when the ANP and Rio’s state government slap fines on the company, as they have pledged to do.

Chevron had halted all of its local drilling operations after the leak occurred, before ANP’s announced suspension. The ANP said the suspension will remain in place until Chevron fully restores safety conditions in the field.