BP Oil Spill Settlement Approved; $70 Million For Escambia County

April 5, 2016

A final settlement has been approved for  the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico at $20.8 billion, which includes the civil Clean Water Act penalties and additional funding for environmental damages and other claims by the five Gulf States, was granted final approval today.  To view the Consent Decree, click here.

As part of the settlement, Escambia County is expected to receive about $70 million over 16 years in direct allocation from RESTORE. Escambia will also be eligible to apply for funding from other sources of oil spill funding, including Triumph and the Natural Environmental Resource Damage Assessment programs.

Chairman and District 4 Commissioner Grover Robinson was cautiously optimistic to see the process move forward after almost 6 years. He commented, “It appears that this is the final decision regarding the BP settlement and penalties. This order will begin to move monies associated with the BP settlement per the payment terms of that settlement. While the funding will never totally heal the damage done to our residents or our beaches, it will help us to continue to move forward and make a difference in Escambia County that has the potential to impact our community positively for generations.”

The settlement includes:

  • $8.1 billion for natural resource damage
  • $5.5 billion for Clean Water Act civil penalties
  • Up to $700 million for future unknowns
  • $350 million to reimburse state and federal assessment costs
  • $250 million to reimburse response and removal costs
  • The total restoration funds to the State of Florida includes $680 million in natural resource damage payments and $572 million in Florida RESTORE Act Allocations, which includes:
    • $308 million for Direct Component (Pot 1) funds to the Florida Counties
    • $242 million for the Spill Impact Component (Pot 3) funds to the Consortium of 23 Counties
    • $22 million for the Centers of Excellence

Comments

4 Responses to “BP Oil Spill Settlement Approved; $70 Million For Escambia County”

  1. Thoth Calvert on April 5th, 2016 5:39 pm

    Dang! Maybe we can buy lots more palm trees … but will y’all please put some of them on along Gulf Beach Highway … Car City Pensacola Blvd. (Palafox) … Pace Blvd … Barrancas … West Cervantes … W Street ??? Tourists come through here from Alabama and think they have stepped off the end of the world … its embarrassing. Let’s improve and beautify ALL of Pensacola and Escambia County.

  2. bobinbusan on April 5th, 2016 8:46 am

    Yes your RIGHT on the above reply, but you got to grease the wheels on the politicos and bureaucrats machines

  3. Bob C. on April 5th, 2016 8:42 am

    @ jeeperman

    You got THAT right.
    Plus the Special Interest individuals and groups who are on the planning group that has made decisions on how to spend the BP monies.
    Drainage, Roads, Infrastructure that is crumbling, many other true Public Works projects should be the top uses of this PUBLIC money.
    First you must build a solid foundation…ours is washing away with each rainstorm.
    We don’t need ‘Fancy’ projects because somebody saw something on an out-of-town junket, Charleston seems to be a favorite lately, but do things to improve our lives.

  4. jeeperman on April 5th, 2016 7:52 am

    And by the time the politicos and bureaucrats get done, Escambia County will be lucky to see 50% of that money actually spent on the finished projects.