District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday found that BP was guilty of “gross negligence” ahead of the rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. The “gross negligence” designation could quadruple BP’s federal financial penalties, adding as much as $18 billion to the bill for worst offshore environmental disaster in U.S. BP said it would appeal the decision, arguing that “the law is clear that proving gross negligence is a very high bar that was not met in this case.”