All five Gulf of Mexico states have reached a settlement with the owner of the offshore drilling rig involved in the 2010 BP oil spill, with Louisiana releasing documents on Wednesday indicating it will receive a $4 million share.
As The Associated Press reports, a filing from Transocean and attorneys for Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas says all of the states have entered a settlement agreement. The filing was dated Tuesday. Alabama’s governor announced that state’s $20 million settlement with Transocean last week.
Texas officials say they’re getting a $2 million cut of the settlement, while Mississippi and Florida officials have not yet released details of their settlements.
The Transocean settlements will amount to far less than those announced earlier this year between rig operator BP and the states. That settlement, which also involved the U.S. Justice Department, has previously been estimated to be worth $18.7 billion, but could end up being more than $20 billion, The AP reports. It awaits final approval from a federal judge in New Orleans, who earlier had assigned most of the blame in the disaster to BP.
Louisiana is set to receive a $6.8 billion share of the BP settlement. Attorney General Buddy Caldwell announced earlier this month that court documents have been filed to finalize the settlement, clearing the way for Louisiana to begin receiving billions of dollars for coastal restoration and economic recovery. As stated when the settlement was announced in July, Louisiana will receive $5 billion for natural resources damages; $1 billion for economic damages; and at least $787 million for civil penalties under the Clean Water Act.
