Deepwater Horizon case settled for $20.8 billion

USA

WASHINGTON DC, October 6, 2015 – A $20.8-billion settlement has been reached for the BP Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, US attorney general Loretta Lynch announced on Tuesday.

The five states most affected by the spill – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas – will be given $4.9 billion from the settlement.

An extra $5.5 billion will be paid in penalties from the Clean Water Act, with 85 percent of this directed at damages sustained in the region and developmental projects to rejuvenate habitats in the area. BP will also pay an additional $7.1 billion under the Oil Pollution Act.

According to Lynch, the spill caused “unprecedented damage” to the ecosystems and businesses that were reliant on the Gulf of Mexico region. It affected more than 2,090 kilometres of coastline, sending more than three million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of nearly three months.

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