Tagged: 2010 Gulf Oil Spill

Six coastal governors have called on Washington to open up more waters to offshore drilling and to make permitting a quicker, more efficient process.

The governors of Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and Alaska spoke Monday at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston. Officials from Louisiana and Virginia also spoke.

They say a federal moratorium on offshore drilling after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and permitting requirements put in place after that, have made it difficult for companies to develop resources.

Although it's unclear how much money Alabama may gain from the BP settlement, state lawmakers are making plans on how to use it.

A proposal passed Wednesday to allow the full Senate to debate using funds from BP oil spill lawsuits to repay the Alabama Trust Fund.

The Senate Committee for Finance and Taxation-General Fund voted 7-1 in favor of the measure. If passed, the measure would restore financing to the Rainy Day Fund.

A BP lawyer says other companies that worked on the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon drilling project made crucial mistakes that led to the deaths of 11 workers and the massive 2010 Gulf oil spill.

BP attorney Mike Brock acknowledged during his opening statements Monday for a high-stakes trial that the London-based company also made mistakes and "errors in judgment" before its Macondo well blew out.

Louisiana's attorney general has spent nearly $24 million building the state's legal case against BP over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. And records show much of the money has gone to outside law firms that have contributed to his campaigns.

The $15.4 million that Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has paid to outside lawyers accounts for about two-thirds of his total spending.

A federal judge in New Orleans has scheduled a Feb. 14 hearing to decide whether to accept the Justice Department's criminal settlement with Transocean Ltd. over the company's role in the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Transocean, which owned the rig that sank after an explosion killed 11 workers and spawned the spill, agreed last Thursday to pay $400 million in criminal penalties and plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating the Clean Water Act. The Switzerland-based company also agreed to pay $1 billion in civil penalties.

More than 100 nonprofit groups and government entities have been picked to get shares of $43.7 million in BP funds to promote the Gulf Coast's tourism and seafood industries following the company's 2010 oil spill.

The first round of grants announced Wednesday by court-supervised claims administrator Patrick Juneau is part of a proposed settlement between BP and a team of private plaintiffs' attorneys.

The deal calls for BP to fund a total of $57 million in tourism and seafood promotion grants.