Washington, D.C. – Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, issued the statement below following the announcement that BP has agreed to pay $18.7 billion to settle civil claims from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. The agreement includes $5.5 billion in Clean Water Act fines, 80 percent of which will be distributed under the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability Tourism Opportunities and Revived Economy of the Gulf Coast Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act). The RESTORE Act, which was included in MAP-21, directed that Clean Water Act penalties be used to help restore the long-term health of the ecosystems and economy of the Gulf Coast states.
Senator Boxer said: “In the wake of the worst oil spill in U.S. history, I worked with my colleagues from the Gulf Coast states to pass the bipartisan RESTORE Act to help the region recover from the tremendous ecological and economic damage caused by the spill. The agreement announced today is a significant step forward in implementing this important legislation and restoring the ecosystems and economies of the Gulf Coast. I will continue to work to ensure the funding gets quickly to the projects that will help the region recover.”
###