Tag: Deepwater Horizon

A federal judge in New Orleans granted final approval to an estimated $20 billion settlement over the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, resolving years of litigation over the worst offshore spill in the nation’s history.

The BP Natural Resource Damage Trustees released their final plan that details the extent of the environmental damage caused by the 2010 BP oil disaster and how the Trustees, consisting of the Gulf states and four federal agencies, plan to restore the environment over the next 15 years.

The first hearing of the trial of a former BP rig supervisor over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster reveals that the supervisor ignored a clear red flag and should be held partly responsible or the 2010 oil spill.

On November 30, 2015, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana handed down the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in the penalty phase of the civil case against Anadarko for its role in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident.

The US Department of Justice dropped all obstruction of justice charges against former BP engineer Kurt Mix related to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

 Alabama has agreed to a settlement with Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc., which owned the Deepwater Horizon. Alabama will receive $20 million.“The State of Alabama suffered tremendous environmental and economic losses because of the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010,” Governor Robert Bentley said.“I appreciate the entire Alabama team for working to ensure Alabama is fairly compensated. This agreement with Transocean is another positive step forward as we continue to recover from the effects of such a significant environmental and economic disaster.”On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon floating drilling rig owned by Transocean and used by BP, experienced a well destabilization that ultimately led to an explosion causing catastrophic fires, a leak of over 3 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and the death of 11 people. As a result, Alabama’s Gulf Coast and the surrounding area experienced significant environmental and economic damages, as did the State of Alabama.Earlier this year, an agreement in principle was reached with BP that resulted in an agreement to pay the State of Alabama $2.3 billion, with $1.3 billion going directly to the Gulf Coast region and $1 billion to be paid to the state.The Transocean settlement will go into ...

 The US Department of Justice announced a settlement to resolve civil claims against BP arising from the April 20, 2010 Macondo well blowout and the massive oil spill that followed in the Gulf of Mexico.This global settlement resolves the governments’ civil claims under the Clean Water Act and natural resources damage claims under the Oil Pollution Act, as well as economic damage claims of the five Gulf states and local governments.  Taken together this global resolution of civil claims is worth $20.8 billion, and is the largest settlement with a single entity in the department’s history.Also, the Deepwater Horizon Trustees Council, made up of representatives of the five Gulf states and four federal agencies, has published a draft damage assessment and restoration plan and a draft environmental impact statement.  The plan includes a comprehensive assessment of natural resource injuries resulting from the oil spill and provides a detailed framework for how the trustees will use the natural resource damage recoveries from BP to restore the Gulf environment.“Building on prior actions against BP and its subsidiaries by the Department of Justice, this historic resolution is a strong and fitting response to the worst environmental disaster in American history,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “BP is receiving ...

 The U.S. Coast Guard's National Pollution Funds Center (NPFC) has responsibility for disbursements from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (Fund).The Fund enables the Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to respond to oil spills. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) authorizes the Fund to pay for certain damage claims and oil removal costs. The federal government may subsequently seek reimbursement of these costs from responsible parties.Damage claimsGAO found that for fiscal years 2011 through 2013, internal controls were designed and implemented to reasonably assure that damage claim expenses were appropriately disbursed from the Fund.Oil removalGAO identified several internal control deficiencies, which demonstrated that NPFC was unable to reasonably assure that oil removal disbursements were appropriately disbursed from the Fund. GAO's statistical tests of oil removal disbursements less than or equal to $500,000 identified design and implementation control deficiencies involving invoices that lacked required certifications, high visibility spills that were not identified, and missing supporting documentation for some costs. Also, GAO identified other issues, including that NPFC lacked policies and procedures for tracking and reconciling cash advances to EPA.NPFC has established a system of internal controls for the designation and billing, as appropriate, of responsible parties. For ...

 In the spring of 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded, initiating an uncontrolled deep-water oil and gas blowout from the Macondo wellhead. The uncontrolled hydrocarbon discharge continued for 85 days and the environmental impacts were substantial.According to University of Georgia's Samantha Joye, one of the biggest challenges in evaluating the environmental impacts of the Macondo blowout was the lack of baseline data—both in the water column and along the seabed, where as much as 15 percent of the discharged oil ended up.As oil and natural gas drilling continues at depths well beyond that of where the Macondo wellhead—at 1,500 meters—blew out, Joye argues in a new article in the journal Science that environmental monitoring data is desperately needed to establish natural baselines; such baselines are essential for documenting anthropogenic perturbations, such as oil spills, and preparing for future disaster response.In Science's Perspective section, Joye emphasizes that only through collecting both baseline data and consistent long-term observations after perturbations is it possible to piece together the environmental impacts of environmental disasters like oil spills.Joye stresses that the academic community, federal responders and the oil and gas industry need to take steps to collect baseline data in preparation for future perturbations ...

  Five years ago this week, engineers stopped the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill—the largest one in U.S. history, easily displacing the Exxon Valdez spill from the top spot. Now, Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, takes a look at the lessons scientists are learning from these accidents to improve clean-up efforts and, perhaps, prevent spills altogether. C&EN Senior Editor Jyllian Kemsley explains that although both spills were caused by human error, they each posed unique challenges. When the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, oil-spill plans were in place, but the equipment wasn't nearby. Clean-up crews performed a few different methods, some of which may have caused even more harm. A critical first obstacle in the attempt to get a handle on the DWH spill was obtaining an accurate determination of the flow rate. Scientists finally came up with a solution, but that took valuable time. The most contentious issue with the DWH response was the use of dispersants to break up the oil. Dispersants themselves are toxic, and the best way to use them was unclear. Oil-spill experts point out that the ideal approach to such an accident is to not have ...