AmericasEnvironmentOffshore

New Orleans accepts $45m as its share of Deepwater Horizon payout

San Francisco: New Orleans settled its portion of the Deepwater Horizon compensation deal by accepting a $45m payout from BP.

On July 2 BP agreed a total package of $18.7 billion in penalties to five coastal states and the federal government for environmental and economic damage caused by the 2010 oil platform disaster.

Louisiana’s share is expected t be around $6.8bn. New Orleans authorities said they will use the $45m for “resilience initiatives, including water management and coastal and ecosystem restoration.”

US District Judge Carl Barbier set a July 15 deadline for governments to approve the proposed settlements.

The Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April, 2010, killed 11 oil rig workers and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico as the flow could not be staunched for 87 days. It is the worst offshore oil disaster in US history.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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