Louisiana and BP announced a two-part settlement agreement on Friday related to economic harm from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill as well as separate litigation on coastal damage, bringing the state a step away from resolving all such claims.
No details of the coastal damages agreement were released, as has been the case with other such deals. Previous coastal damages settlements with other major oil companies have been placed under court-ordered seal at the request of the parties involved.
The secret nature of the coastal damage settlements have raised concerns among some coastal advocacy groups over whether the state has been too generous with the terms. Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill have worked to settle the outstanding claims that have involved major oil companies, including Exxon, Chevron, BP and others.
“We have now disposed of claims and settled with all but one of the major defendants in these coastal cases,” Landry said in a statement. “This sends a signal to job creators all over America that Louisiana welcomes jobs and economic growth while responsibly dealing with the issues of the past.”
The governor is currently in Paris for the Saints game and his spokesperson did not respond to a request for further details. John Carmouche, the lawyer who has represented Louisiana parishes in the suits, also did not respond to requests for comment.
Landry did not name the last major defendant left to settle the coastal suits, but it is likely Chevron, whose case has been tied up in court. A Plaquemines Parish jury delivered a $745 million verdict against Chevron last year, but the U.S. Supreme Court has since weighed in, essentially siding with the oil firm in its argument that the case belongs in federal court.
Beginning more than a decade ago, some 42 suits have been filed by Louisiana parishes seeking compensation for coastal damage from oil companies. The years-long saga now appears to be nearing an end.
In June, Landry announced a settlement with Exxon, and that deal has also played a role in SpaceX’s decision to build a major spaceport in the Pecan Island area of coastal Louisiana. Exxon donated a 125,000-acre site in Vermilion Parish to the state, which then sold it to SpaceX for $100 million.
The coastal damages lawsuits were intended to hold the oil companies responsible for pollution and land loss long afflicting Louisiana. Oil and gas activity along the coast has been an important factor in Louisiana’s land loss crisis, which in recent years has seen the state lose a football field of land every 84 minutes on average, USGS data shows.
The lawsuits were seen as a way of partly addressing a looming funding cliff for the state when it comes to coastal projects. Fines and settlement dollars related to the 2010 BP spill have provided some $8.5 billion for Louisiana restoration projects, but that money expires by 2032.
Deepwater Horizon tragedy
The second part of the BP agreement announced Friday is separate and does not deal specifically with coastal damage. It is related to an earlier, 2015 settlement for economic and other claims from Gulf Coast states over the Deepwater Horizon tragedy.
Under the new economic damages agreement, BP’s payments of the remaining $373 million to Louisiana, initially due in instalments over the next seven years, will be replaced with a single disbursement of around $350 million, the oil company said in a statement. That money is separate from the $8.5 billion set aside for coastal restoration.
FILE – This April 21, 2010 file photo shows the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burning after an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, off the southeast tip of Louisiana. Ten years after an oil rig explosion killed 11 workers and unleashed an environmental nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico, companies are drilling into deeper and deeper waters where the payoffs can be huge but the risks are greater than ever. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
“We will never forget the 11 men who lost their lives, or the impact on their families, communities and the environment across the Gulf Coast,” BP CEO Meg O’Neill said in a statement. “Deepwater Horizon was a tragedy that forever changed BP, and the lessons we learned continue to guide how we operate today.”
The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and collapsed into the Gulf in the 2010 tragedy, resulting in the largest spill in the history of marine oil drilling. Oil gushed into the Gulf for 87 days, with an estimated 4.9 million barrels spilled.
BP says it currently has more than 800 employees in Louisiana, with major operations in the Haynesville Shale area and the Gulf.
