BP agrees to pay $18.5 billion in Deepwater Horizon settlement

摘要

In what would be the largest environmental settlement in U.S. history, BP has struck a tentative agreement with five Gulf Coast states and the federal government that would see the oil company pay them $18.5 billion over 18 years in compensation for damages from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The $18.5 billion includes a civil penalty of $5.5 billion under the Clean Water Act (CWA)-payable over 15 years. The Macondo blowout on April 20, 2010 resulted in the deaths of 11 workers and the largest offshore oil spill the Gulf of Mexico has ever seen-some 3.19 million barrels of oil, according to the second phase ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier this past January. The U.S. Department of Interior estimated the oil spill at 4.9 million barrels.