BRADENTON, Fla. – A judge in New Orleans signed off on a $20 billion settlement with BP for its Deepwater Horizon oil spill that will bring fiscal relief to five Gulf Coast states hit by the nation’s largest environmental disaster.
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier gave final approval to the settlement Monday to resolve years of litigation over the 2010 oil rig explosion that left 11 workers dead and dumped 134 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas will receive coastal and economic damage compensation totaling about $14.6 billion.
Louisiana, hit hardest by the spill, gets the most money. Some of it will be used to patch the state’s budget deficit, but Gov. John Bel Edwards promises that most of it will be used for environmental remediation.
Most of the money will be paid out over the next 16 to 18 years per the global agreement-in-principle first announced last July.
The settlement includes another $5.5 billion in civil Clean Water Act penalties.
Louisiana will receive $6.8 billion in total. Of the amount, $5.8 billion will go to the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund.
The state will also receive another $1 billion for economic damages that can be deposited in the general fund.
A $200 million upfront payment to be received in the current fiscal year will be used as part of a plan to close a $940 million deficit.
“The BP oil spill nearly crippled our state and did damage to our coast and communities that will take years to rectify,” Edwards said. “I am pleased with the court’s decision to bring this issue to a close.”
The settlement will allow the state to continue investing in coastal restoration and hardening, as well as assuring that the first payment for economic losses will be received in time to help close the fiscal 2016 shortfall, the governor said.
Edwards also promised that no BP settlement funds earmarked for restoration would be diverted to address the state’s budget problems even though Louisiana remains about $800 million short for fiscal 2017.
“The Louisiana coast is vital to our heritage and our economy, which is why doing everything within our power to ensure that it is restored and protected must be a priority,” he said. “I will continue to only spend money allocated for coastal projects on coastal issues.”
Edwards issued an executive order Monday directing work on the Coastal Master Plan to continue.
The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has completed projects in 20 parishes over the past six years, restoring 30,637 acres of land – equivalent to about 40,000 football fields.
Other projects include improvements to 274 miles of levees, and constructing 52 miles of barrier islands and berms.
The BP settlement will bring Florida the second-highest settlement among the five states: $2 billion for economic damage claims and $1.25 billion for natural resource restoration.
Alabama will receive $1.3 billion for coastal restoration projects and $1 billion for economic claims.
Mississippi will get $765 million for coastal projects and $750 million for economic damages, while Texas will receive $638 million for restoration efforts and $150 million for claims related to economic losses.
