Five years after millions of gallons of oil flooded into the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drill rig, BP has reached a settlement with the federal government and five gulf states to pay $18.7 billion in damages from the spill.
BP will dole out $7.1 billion to Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Texas and the federal government over the course of 15 years for environmental damages. The company will also be forced to pay a $5.5 billion civil penalty to the U.S. government under the Clean Air Act.
“The Justice Department has been fully committed to holding BP accountable, to achieving justice for the American people and to restoring the environment and the economy of the Gulf region at the expense of those responsible and not the American taxpayer,” U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement following the announcement.