BP settles $20B claim with US for 2010 oil spill

WASHINGTON

The Justice Department and oil giant BP has settled a $20.8 billion lawsuit stemming from a 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Monday.

"I am pleased to announce that we have secured a historic resolution of our pending claims against BP totaling more than $20 billion – making it the largest settlement with a single entity in American history," Lynch said at a press conference.

The resolution ıncludes civil claims under the Clean Water and Oil Pollution acts for nearly $13 billion.

It also includes economic damages claims, and BP has agreed to pay $4.9 billion to five Gulf states and up to $1 billion to local governments.

"Once approved by the court, this agreement will launch one of the largest environmental restoration efforts the world has ever seen," Lynch said.

BP said in July that it would pay penalties just shy of $19 billion to the government and five states – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas – to resolve most claims from the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Eleven workers were killed in the rig explosion that spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and onto the shorelines of area states.

In December of that year, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against BP to hold the company accountable and to provide vital relief for Gulf area residents.