Scalise Statement on Final Approval of $20B BP Settlement

METAIRIE, LA —Congressman Steve Scalise (R-La.) issued the following statement today after the Associated Press reported that a “federal judge in New Orleans granted final approval Monday to an estimated $20 billion settlement over the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico,” including “$5.5 billion in civil Clean Water Act penalties and billions more to cover environmental damage and other claims by the five Gulf states and local governments.”

“The final approval of the BP settlement is a tremendous victory for the people of Louisiana, who have shown strong resilience and taken crucial steps to improve the safety of energy production in the six years since the Deepwater Horizon disaster,” Scalise said. “Thanks to the RESTORE Act, these settlement funds will now be used for their intended purpose of restoring our coast and protecting south Louisiana’s unique way of life—not as a slush fund for unrelated projects. I’m thankful that Judge Barbier brought these legal proceedings to a just conclusion, and I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure that these hard-earned funds are used properly to restore our coast so that Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states can move forward with the important work of recovering from the damage that was done and protect us from future storms.”

The RESTORE Act, which Scalise ushered through the U.S. House and was signed into law in July, 2012, directs 80 percent of the Clean Water Act fines resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster to Gulf Coast states for the purposes of ecosystem and economic recovery. As Louisiana works to fully restore its coastal ecosystems in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, this legislation is widely regarded as the single most significant action taken to restore Louisiana’s coast in history.