NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Officials in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana have announced an $18.7 billion settlement with BP that resolves years of litigation over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
$3.25 billion will go to Florida. Tampa received a settlement of $27 million – more than any city in Florida. Other Tampa Bay municipalities have not released their settlement figures, citing a federal gag order that prohibits them from talking about the numbers. Other city leaders questioned why Tampa chose to hold a news conference about the settlement..
“We have forged ahead with an agreement to spur hope and spur recovery for our entire gulf region,” said Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“This was an egregious spill. I think this spill will affect Florida for generations to come. I think we had a moral obligation to step out on this and lead. We were one of the first cities that stepped up and said, ‘We believe we have the damage. we believe we can prove we have the damage,’ ” said Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.
“There were a lot of conventions that were canceled. there were visitors that didn’t come. There were hotels that were left unfilled,” Buckhorn added.
Thursday’s settlement announcement comes as a federal judge was preparing to rule on how much BP owed in federal Clean Water Act penalties after well over 125 million gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf.Related: Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Settlement Fact Sheet
BP has said its spill-related costs already exceed $42 billion – even without the Clean Water Act fine. It’s also unclear how much BP will end up paying under a 2012 settlement with individuals and businesses claiming spill-related losses.
The spill resulted from the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers.
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