Deepwater Horizon
| Author | Elizabeth Klein |
| Pages | 243-270 |
Chapter 7: Deepwater Horizon
Elizabeth Klein*
I. Introduction
On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling
rig located 49 miles o the Louisiana coa stline.1 At the time of the explo-
sion, the rig’s crew was completing drilling operations on the exploratory
Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf ). e explosion resulted in the
deaths of 11 crew members, serious injuries to 17 others, and the destruction
of the rig itself.2 e economic and environmental disaster that followed
would include the release of more than four million barrels of oil into the
Gulf over the course of 87 days, causing deva stating impacts to coastal com-
munities as well as wildlife and their habitat.
Following the disaster, thousands of cases associated with the Deepwater
Horizon have been led. Plaintis have included the federal government, the
Gulf states impacted by the oil spill, fam ilies of the individuals who lost their
lives, environmental organizations, and businesses and individuals whose
economic livelihoods were shattered by both the spill’s immediate impact as
well as the longer-term negative eects on industries such as tourism. With
the oil spill extending over more than 43,000 squa re miles, the disaster dam-
aged and temporarily closed sheries; oiled beaches, marshes, and wetlands;
and killed scores of birds and ma rine wildlife all along the shores of ve Gulf
states—Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.3
1. Facts about the event itself and its impact are taken largely from the report to the president by the
National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Oshore Drilling. See N’
C. BP DEEPWATER HORIZON O S & O D, D: T G
O D & F O D (2011) [hereinafter N C
R P].
2. Jason Anderson, Dale Burkeen, Donald Clark, Stephen Curtis, Roy Kemp, Gordon Jones, Karl Dale
Kleppinger, Blair Manuel, Dewey Revette, Shane Roshto, and Adam Weise are the 11 crew members
who died as a result of the explosion on the rig. Id. at i.
3. Estimates suggest that the spill resulted in the “deaths of as many as 105,400 sea birds, 7,600 adult
and 160,000 juvenile sea turtles; . . . up to a 51-percent decrease in dolphins in Louisiana’s Barataria
Bay;” and the loss of as many as 8.3 billion oysters. See Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Settlements:
Where the Money Went: Explosion Triggered Economic, Environmental Devastation, and a Legal
* Elizabeth Klein is Deputy Director of the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center at the New
York University School of Law. She was Associate Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of the
Interior (DOI) from 2010 to 2017.
Copyright © 2020 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC.
244 Looking Back to Move Forward: Resolving Health & Environmental Crises
Multiple federal and state agencies responded to both the immediate
aftermath of the explosion and the cleanup of the oil spill, and they con-
tinued to be involved in the extensive civil and crimina l litigation that fol-
lowed. Ultimately, BP—the company held most liable for the explosion and
spill4—would enter into (1) the largest civil penalty settlement agreement
ever reached with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ); (2) the largest crim-
inal penalty set tlement with DOJ; and (3) settlements of class action lawsuits
led on behalf of the thousands of clea nup workers and coa stal zone residents
who were injured either physically or economically as a result of the disaster.
While many pages of analysis could be used to describe the full scope of
all the litigation triggered by the Deepwater Horizon disaster, this chapter
focuses on the $20 billion civil settlement agreement among BP, the federal
government, Gulf states, and local communities. at agreement includes
funds allocated for restitution of the natural resource damages caused by
the spill pursuant to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (Oil Pollution Act) as
well as funds allocated by the Resources and Ecos ystems Sustainability,
Tourist Opportunities, and Revive Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act
(RESTORE Act)—a bill enacted in the wa ke of the disaster to dedicate
administrative and civil penalties to both natural resource restoration and
economic development.5
e civil settlement was shaped by a number of forces and considerations
between the time of the disa ster in 2010 and the time the agreement was
nalized in 2016. e following chapter discu sses a number of those consid-
erations. Section II discusses t he events leading up to and immediately fol-
lowing the explosion and oil spill, the public’s awareness and reaction to the
disaster, and the multiple investigations launched to try and u nderstand why
the event occurred. Section III outlines t he civil litigation initiated by the
federal government and the statutory claim s made, the organization and out-
comes of the trial, and the ultimate set tlement. Section IV d iscusses how the
Battle, N’ O & A A., Apr. 20, 2017, https://www.noaa.gov/explainers/
deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-settlements-where-money-went.
4. See, e.g., In re Oil Spill by the Oil Rig “Deepwater Horizon” in the Gulf of Mexico, on Apr. 20,
2010, 21 F. Supp. 3d 657, 747 (E.D. La. 2014) (nding BP 67% liable for the spill under general
maritime law).
5. In addition to the $20 billion civil settlement with BP, DOJ entered into settlement agreements with
other liable parties: in January 2013, Transocean Deepwater Inc. and related entities agreed to pay
$1 billion in civil penalties, and in November 2015, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. was ordered to pay
$159.5 million in civil penalties. See Press Release, Dep’t of Justice, U.S. and Five Gulf States Reach
Historic Settlement With BP to Resolve Civil Lawsuit Over Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (Oct. 5,
2015), https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-and-ve-gulf-states-reach-historic-settlement-bp-resolve-
civil-lawsuit-over-deepwater; G C E R C, C
P U 2016: R G C’ E E 8 (2016).
Copyright © 2020 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC.
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