State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli just announced he has hired the law firm of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll to represent the state pension fund in a class action against the oil giant BP in connection with the “disastrous” Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill in the GulF of Mexico.

“It’s my duty to protect the interests of the Fund and the retirees and employees who rely on it,” DiNapoli said.

“BP misled investors about its safety procedures and its ability to respond to events like the ongoing oil spill and we’re going to hold it accountable.”

The fund, which has about $132.6 billion in assets, owns 17.5 million BP shares through index funds and lost an estimated $30 million as a result of the spill, according to the WSJ. At the time of the explosion, the fund held more than 19 million BP shares, DiNapoli said.

DiNapoli said last week he was mulling a possible suit against BP for its mismanagement of the well that is still spewing thousands of gallons of oil into the gulf every day.

DiNapoli said he will seek to lead the class action against BP to give the fund and other investors their best chance at recovering damages sustained from the decline in shareholder value subsequent to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.

This is no doubt going to net the comptroller some good headlines at a time when he could really use them.

DiNapoli is running statewide for the first time this fall in hopes of keeping the seat to which he ascended, thanks to his former legislative colleagues, in 2007 following ex-Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s resignation due to Chauffeurgate.

Despite the fact that he has been the comptroller for more than three years now, DiNapoli remains largely unknown to most New Yorkers, according to public opinion polls.

Republican Harry Wilson has been hammering DiNapoli, whom the former hedge fund manager refers to as the “unelected comptroller,” on a proposed pension fund borrowing scheme.

The race got particularly heated this week when the state Democratic Party jumped to the comptroller’s defense and hit Wilson, calling him “hedge fund Harry” and calling his Wall Street ties into question.

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