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Joe Raedle/Getty Images Oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 washed up to Fourchon Beach, La. |
by Campbell Robertson
"NEW ORLEANS — With BP’s agreement on Thursday to plead guilty to 14 criminal charges and pay $4.5 billion in fines and other payments in connection with its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Coast politicians are now eyeing a much bigger potential windfall from the company: $20 billion or more in civil pollution penalties for the spill.
But the negotiations over those penalties — including which states get the money, how quickly, and what it can be used for — could be more contentious than the talks that led to the criminal settlement." Officials with the Justice Department, who are leading the discussions, are not simply representing the federal government, but a number of other governments, including those of the five gulf states. And not only do some states have a different vision of a just settlement than federal officials do, they also disagree among one another. In some cases, leaders within a single state cannot agree on the best course of action.
Civil penalties under the Clean Water Act have not yet been settled. Under the Restore Act the Gulf Cost states will share the proceeds.
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