Federal prosecutors and a unit of BP PLC have asked a federal judge for approval of a $4 billion guilty plea agreement for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.

In November 2012, Houston-based BP Exploration & Production Inc. agreed to plead guilty to 14 counts and pay $4 billion to resolve all criminal charges. The plea included 11 counts of felony seaman's manslaughter.

"The plea agreement imposes severe corporate punishment, appropriately reflects the criminal history of other companies with the BP group of companies, the serious nature of the instant offenses, and the impact of the Macondo blowout and spill on the Gulf Coast and our nation as a whole; and deters BP and other deepwater drillers from permitting such a catastrophe to occur in the future," said Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division of the Justice Department, said in a federal court filing.

But the plea deal has drawn opposition from those who were injured and the relatives of the men who were killed in the rig explosion and spill. More than a dozen letters have been sent to U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance, asking her to reject the agreement. Most of the letters ask for a "sincere" apology and punishment that would be as severe as their losses.

"We have been compensated, but no amount of money will bring my father back," wrote Ashley Manuel, daughter of rig worker Keith Blair Manuel. "If I had my wish, it would be that the three representatives who sat in my grandparents' living room and lied to my face about the accident would sit in jail and feel the same pain and loss I feel" (Brubaker/Feeley, Bloomberg, Jan. 17). -- JE