[liminal]

An issue I've noticed with court imposed fines is that they seem to be set based on the cost of the incident involved, not relative to the finances of the org/person being fined. A pipeline is very expensive, so fines end up being very expensive regardless of the receiver's ability to pay. OTOH, a large company can destroy lives with impunity since the cost of a person's entire lifetime earnings is not material to a multinational corporation's bottom line. This seems backwards to me. Fines should be set in such a way as to properly disincentivize behavior and adjusted to the means of the person/organization paying them.

[nradov]

You missed the point of the court's decision. This was a civil trial for damages. Criminal fines weren't a factor here. The intent of damages is to make the plaintiff whole. The defendant's finances aren't supposed to be a factor.

There's a good chance that the total damages will be reduced on appeal. This case will drag on for years.