BATON ROUGE (AP) — At least $10 million of Louisiana’s $25 million aid grant from BP will be used to help Attorney General Buddy Caldwell with his oil spill litigation.
BP PLC gave Louisiana $25 million for cleanup and response efforts. Gov. Bobby Jindal said Wednesday he’ll carve out another $5 million of the grant for Caldwell’s lawsuit preparations — on top of $5 million Jindal had already promised Caldwell from the grant.
The attorney general has yet to say who he’ll sue or when he’ll file such a lawsuit, but BP could be a target, meaning BP’s own money might be used to sue the company.
The attorney general has estimated he will need up to $100 million for the litigation.
Jindal’s announcement comes after lawmakers killed a bill that would have let Caldwell’s office hire outside attorneys for a percentage of the damage award, instead of an hourly rate. Caldwell had pushed for the bill, which would have lowered his upfront costs on the litigation.
