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[Introduction & Top Questions](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill) - [The explosion](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill#ref294125) - [Leaking oil](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill#ref294126) - [Cleanup efforts](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill/Cleanup-efforts) - [Aftermath and impact](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill/Cleanup-efforts#ref294127) - [Legal action](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill/Legal-action) - [Charges, settlements, and penalties](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill/Legal-action#ref334021) - [Charges against individuals](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill/Legal-action#ref334022) - [The civil trial](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill/Legal-action#ref334023) - [Environmental costs](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill/Environmental-costs) - [The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in pictures](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill/Environmental-costs#ref294128) [References & Edit History](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill/additional-info) [Quick Facts & Related Topics](https://www.britannica.com/facts/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill) [Images & Videos](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill/images-videos) [](https://cdn.britannica.com/58/139558-050-9EEE9E93/Fireboat-response-crews-blaze-oil-rig-Deepwater-April-21-2010.jpg) [](https://cdn.britannica.com/59/139559-050-B9437E07/Debris-oil-rig-Deepwater-Horizon-April-22-2010.jpg) [](https://www.britannica.com/video/Fireboat-response-crews-remnants-offshore-oil-rig-April-21-2010/-142250) [](https://cdn.britannica.com/13/144913-050-B931EC84/Map-oil-spill-effects-Deepwater-Horizon-explosion-April-20-2010.jpg) [](https://www.britannica.com/video/use-obstruction-wire-effects-oil-well-blowout/-204448) [](https://cdn.britannica.com/49/141349-050-4E645470/oil-burn-disaster-Deepwater-Horizon-Gulf-of-May-6-2010.jpg) [](https://cdn.britannica.com/32/142532-050-827D3EE3/Workers-beach-oil-BP-Port-Fourchon-Louisiana-May-23-2010.jpg) [](https://cdn.britannica.com/52/141352-050-41B2F42A/bird-oil-spill-Gulf-of-Mexico-Deepwater-June-2010.jpg) [](https://cdn.britannica.com/28/142528-004-3BC77414/oil-coast-skimming-boom-US-Coast-Guard-May-31-2010.jpg) [](https://cdn.britannica.com/31/142531-050-7E758C72/Sand-oil-spill-Deepwater-Horizon-Fla-Pensacola-2010.jpg) Quizzes [](https://www.britannica.com/quiz/disasters-of-historic-proportion) [Disasters of Historic Proportion](https://www.britannica.com/quiz/disasters-of-historic-proportion) Related Questions - [What caused the Deepwater Horizon oil spill?](https://www.britannica.com/question/What-caused-the-Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill) - [How did the Deepwater Horizon oil spill affect birds?](https://www.britannica.com/question/How-did-the-Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill-affect-birds) - [What is pollution?](https://www.britannica.com/question/What-is-pollution) - [Does pollution cause climate change?](https://www.britannica.com/question/Does-pollution-cause-climate-change) - [How can we reduce pollution?](https://www.britannica.com/question/How-can-we-reduce-pollution)  Contents Ask Anything [World History](https://www.britannica.com/browse/World-History) [Accidents & Disasters](https://www.britannica.com/browse/Accidents-Disasters) CITE Share Feedback External Websites # Cleanup efforts in # [Deepwater Horizon oil spill](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill) Homework Help Written by [Richard Pallardy Richard Pallardy received a B.A. in English from Illinois State University in 2005. He was a research editor with Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. from 2008 to 2016 and worked on Britannica Blog from 2010...](https://www.britannica.com/editor/Richard-Pallardy/6744) Richard Pallardy Fact-checked by [Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....](https://www.britannica.com/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419) Britannica Editors [History](https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill/additional-info#history)  Britannica AI Ask Anything Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask Anything [](https://cdn.britannica.com/49/141349-050-4E645470/oil-burn-disaster-Deepwater-Horizon-Gulf-of-May-6-2010.jpg) [Deepwater Horizon oil spill: controlled burn](https://cdn.britannica.com/49/141349-050-4E645470/oil-burn-disaster-Deepwater-Horizon-Gulf-of-May-6-2010.jpg)Controlled burn of oil spilled in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Gulf of Mexico, May 6, 2010. The burning oil was contained by a length of boom. (more) The [petroleum](https://www.britannica.com/science/petroleum) that had leaked from the well before it was sealed formed a slick extending over more than 57,500 square miles (149,000 square km) of the [Gulf of Mexico](https://www.britannica.com/place/Gulf-of-Mexico-Gulf-of-America). To clean oil from the open [water](https://www.britannica.com/science/water), 1.8 million gallons of [dispersants](https://www.britannica.com/science/dispersing-agent)—substances that emulsified the oil, thus allowing for easier metabolism by bacteria—were pumped directly into the leak and applied aerially to the slick. Booms to corral portions of the slick were [deployed](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deployed), and the contained oil was then siphoned off or burned. As oil began to contaminate [Louisiana](https://www.britannica.com/place/Louisiana-state) beaches in May, it was manually removed; more difficult to clean were the state’s [marshes](https://www.britannica.com/science/marsh) and [estuaries](https://www.britannica.com/science/estuary), where the [topography](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/topography) was knit together by delicate plant life. By June, oil and tar balls had made landfall on the beaches of [Mississippi](https://www.britannica.com/place/Mississippi-state), [Alabama](https://www.britannica.com/place/Alabama-state), and [Florida](https://www.britannica.com/place/Florida). In all, an estimated 1,100 miles (1,770 km) of shoreline were polluted. The various cleanup efforts were coordinated by the National Response Team, a group of government agencies headed by the [U.S. Coast Guard](https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-States-Coast-Guard) and the [Environmental Protection Agency](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Environmental-Protection-Agency) (EPA). BP, Transocean, and several other companies were held liable for the billions of [dollars](https://www.britannica.com/money/dollar) in costs [accrued](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accrued). Coast Guard cleanup patrols ultimately drew to a close in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi in June 2013 and in Louisiana in April 2014. ## Aftermath and impact [](https://cdn.britannica.com/32/142532-050-827D3EE3/Workers-beach-oil-BP-Port-Fourchon-Louisiana-May-23-2010.jpg) [Deepwater Horizon oil spill: beach cleanup](https://cdn.britannica.com/32/142532-050-827D3EE3/Workers-beach-oil-BP-Port-Fourchon-Louisiana-May-23-2010.jpg)Workers contracted by BP cleaning up oil on a beach in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, May 23, 2010. (more) Economic prospects in the [Gulf Coast](https://www.britannica.com/place/Gulf-Coast) states were dire, as the spill affected many of the industries upon which residents depended. More than a third of federal waters in the gulf were closed to [fishing](https://www.britannica.com/technology/commercial-fishing) at the peak of the spill, due to fears of contamination. A [moratorium](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moratorium) on [offshore drilling](https://www.britannica.com/technology/offshore-drilling), enacted by U.S. Pres. [Barack Obama](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Barack-Obama)’s administration despite a district court reversal, left an estimated 8,000–12,000 temporarily unemployed. Few travelers were willing to face the prospect of [petroleum](https://www.britannica.com/science/petroleum)\-sullied beaches, leaving those dependent on [tourism](https://www.britannica.com/topic/tourism) struggling to supplement their incomes. Following demands by Obama, [BP](https://www.britannica.com/money/BP-PLC) created a \$20 billion compensation fund for those affected by the spill. A year later nearly a third of the fund had been paid out, though lack of oversight allowed government entities to submit wildly inflated claims, some unrelated to the spill. By 2013 the fund was largely depleted. Recovery was [incremental](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incremental). As oil dispersed, portions of the gulf began reopening to fishing in July, and by October the majority of the closed areas were judged safe. State governments struggled to draw attention to unsoiled or newly scrubbed beaches with advertising campaigns, often drawing on funds from BP. Oil continued to wash ashore in many areas, and much of it could not be removed, either because of logistical reasons—mats of submerged oil and organic matter collected in tidal zones that were difficult to reach—or because cleaning it up would inflict greater harm on the ecosystem. The drilling moratorium, initially set to expire in November 2010, was lifted in mid-October, though new drilling permits were not issued until February of the subsequent year following mounting government and industry pressure to increase domestic oil production. The emergence of BP chief executive Tony Hayward as the public face of the oil giant further inflamed public [sentiment](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sentiment) against the embattled company. The Englishman—who at one point remarked, “I’d like my life back”—was derided for his alternately [flippant](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flippant) and [obfuscating](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obfuscating) responses in media interviews and while testifying before the [U.S. Congress](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Congress-of-the-United-States). He was replaced in October. By the next year, the company had lost almost a quarter of its market value and had hemorrhaged over \$40 billion in costs associated with cleanup and recovery. The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, formed by [Obama](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Barack-Obama) in May 2010, faulted the Obama administration’s response to the spill in a report issued in October. The commission’s final report, issued in January 2011, [attributed](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/attributed) the spill to a lack of regulatory oversight by the government and negligence and time-saving measures on the part of BP and its partners. A report released in September by the Joint Investigation Team of the [Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bureau-of-Ocean-Energy-Management-Regulation-and-Enforcement) (BOEMRE) and the [U.S. Coast Guard](https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-States-Coast-Guard) emphasized BP’s ultimate responsibility for the [disaster](https://www.britannica.com/science/disaster). (BOEMRE had supplanted the Minerals Management Agency, which had regulated drilling before the spill, in June 2010.) The report noted that, although the defective concrete cap had been installed by [Halliburton](https://www.britannica.com/money/Halliburton), decisions about the installation process made by BP had been the cause of the failure. The investigation further found that BP and Transocean employees aboard the [rig](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/rig) had—while engaged in testing procedures—ignored early indications of a problem and thus missed opportunities to prevent a full-scale blowout. Though representatives of BP conceded that the company was responsible for some of the factors contributing to the spill, they stressed that their partner companies were also to blame. Halliburton and Transocean similarly pointed to failures on the part of the other parties involved. In 2020, 10 years after the disaster, the former members of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling noted that the U.S. Congress had failed to act on most of the recommendations in the final report. However, they did note that the oil industry had improved well containment capability. In addition, a study published in the journal *[Nature](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nature-British-periodical)* in 2020 found that fish in the Gulf of Mexico continued to show evidence of contamination by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Britannica AI *chevron\_right* Deepwater Horizon oil spill - Cleanup, Environmental Impact, BP *close* [AI-generated answers](https://www.britannica.com/about-britannica-ai) from Britannica articles. AI makes mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. # Legal action ## Charges, settlements, and penalties A formal civil and [criminal investigation](https://www.britannica.com/topic/criminal-investigation) into the spill was initiated in June 2010 by the [U.S. Department of Justice](https://www.britannica.com/topic/US-Department-of-Justice) (DOJ). In August 2010 [Louisiana](https://www.britannica.com/place/Louisiana-state) [district court](https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-States-District-Court) judge Carl Barbier was appointed to oversee the [consolidated](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/consolidated) proceedings relating to the spill, which had prompted numerous lawsuits and precipitated a morass of complex legal entanglements, private and public. The DOJ sued [BP](https://www.britannica.com/money/BP-PLC), Transocean, and Anadarko, a minority owner of the well, in [New Orleans](https://www.britannica.com/place/New-Orleans-Louisiana) civil court in December 2010 for violating the [Clean Water Act](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Clean-Water-Act) and Oil Pollution Act. In early March 2012 BP agreed to settle claims made by the plaintiffs’ steering committee, the consolidated representative body for many of the individual victims of the spill, for at least \$7.8 billion. (The move followed the postponement of a trial scheduled in late February in Louisiana district court.) The monies were to be drawn from the compensation fund [mandated](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mandated) by the Obama administration. Previously managed by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg—who had also overseen the compensation fund for victims of the [September 11 attacks](https://www.britannica.com/event/September-11-attacks)—the fund was transferred to court control as part of the accord. In addition to covering economic losses sustained in the wake of the spill, the [settlement](https://www.britannica.com/topic/settlement-law) mandated the payment of medical claims (which had previously been denied by the fund) and provided for 21 years of further medical monitoring and care, allowing for the delayed onset of symptoms and illnesses. BP remained [liable](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/liable) for substantial additional claims by local and state entities as well as by the federal government. An effort by the company to appeal the agreement, which received final approval in December 2012, was rejected by the [U.S. Supreme Court](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Supreme-Court-of-the-United-States) in December 2014. In November 2012 BP reached an agreement with the DOJ to plead guilty to 14 criminal charges, among them 11 counts of felony [manslaughter](https://www.britannica.com/topic/manslaughter), and violations of the Clean Water and Migratory Bird Treaty acts. The agreement carried penalties and fines amounting to more than \$4.5 billion, of which nearly \$1.26 billion would go to a discretionary fund overseen by the DOJ, some \$2.4 billion to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), and \$350 million to the [National Academy of Sciences](https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Academy-of-Sciences-American-organization) (NAS). BP also agreed to pay more than half a billion dollars to the [Securities and Exchange Commission](https://www.britannica.com/money/Securities-and-Exchange-Commission) for [misleading](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/misleading) its shareholders about the magnitude of the [oil spill](https://www.britannica.com/science/oil-spill). The deal was approved in January 2013. Later in November 2012, the EPA suspended BP from entering into any new federal contracts. That suspension, initially thought to be temporary, was reinforced in January 2013. In February the EPA also issued a separate suspension to the BP subsidiary that had operated the well, the Dallas-based BP Exploration & Production Inc., citing a violation of the Clean Water Act. In August 2013 the company filed suit against the EPA in Texas federal court, asking that the ban be lifted. It was not lifted until March 2014; the company successfully bid on 24 federal contracts later that month. In January 2013 Transocean agreed to a \$1 billion civil penalty under the Clean Water Act. Approximately \$800 million of that amount was earmarked for restoration projects in the gulf, and the remainder was paid to the federal government. The company also pled guilty to criminal violations of the Clean Water Act, resulting in a \$400 million criminal penalty. Of that money, \$300 million was evenly divided between restoration projects [administered](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/administered) by the NFWF and an offshore oil safety research endowment administered by the NAS. The remainder funded a liability trust to be drawn upon in the event of later spills. In May 2015 Transocean resolved claims made by the plaintiffs’ steering committee for some \$211.7 million. [ Britannica Quiz Disasters of Historic Proportion](https://www.britannica.com/quiz/disasters-of-historic-proportion) In July 2013 [Halliburton](https://www.britannica.com/money/Halliburton) agreed to pay a \$200,000 penalty after pleading guilty to criminal charges that its employees had destroyed evidence related to the spill. It settled claims with the plaintiffs’ steering committee for some \$1.1 billion in September 2014. In November 2015 Anadarko was judged liable for some \$159.5 million in civil penalties for its role in the [disaster](https://www.britannica.com/science/disaster). ## Charges against individuals In April 2012 the first criminal charges to come out of the disaster were filed against a former senior drilling engineer for [BP](https://www.britannica.com/money/BP-PLC). Kurt Mix, who had worked for BP until January 2012, was charged in federal court with obstructing [justice](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justice) for deleting hundreds of text messages concerning the flow rate of [oil](https://www.britannica.com/science/petroleum) despite having received legal notification to preserve the correspondence. Some of the messages were forensically recovered; one contained a flow rate estimate three times higher than what BP had publicly attested to at the time. He was convicted in December 2013. In November 2012 two senior officers on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, were charged with manslaughter. David Rainey, the former vice president for exploration in the [Gulf of Mexico](https://www.britannica.com/place/Gulf-of-Mexico-Gulf-of-America), was charged with obstructing [Congress](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Congress-of-the-United-States) and making false statements to law enforcement concerning the rate at which oil was leaking from the rig. The Supreme Court refused to hear a 2015 appeal by the latter official to dismiss the obstruction charge. To the dismay of many observers, none of the individuals who were charged with criminal offenses related to the spill ultimately received prison sentences. Rainey was acquitted in June 2015. Mix was granted a retrial owing to juror misconduct and instead pled guilty to misdemeanor computer fraud charges. He was sentenced to [probation](https://www.britannica.com/topic/probation) and [community](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community) service in November 2015. The manslaughter charges against Kaluza and Vidrine were dropped in December 2015 at the request of the prosecution. Vidrine pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of [pollution](https://www.britannica.com/science/pollution-environment) under the Clean Water Act and in April 2016 was sentenced to probation, community service, and the payment of a fine. Kaluza pled not guilty to the same charge and was cleared in February 2016. ## The civil trial The civil [trial](https://www.britannica.com/topic/trial-law) of BP, Halliburton, and Transocean began in late February 2013 in [New Orleans](https://www.britannica.com/place/New-Orleans-Louisiana). The federal government, as well as individual states and entities, was among the [plaintiffs](https://www.britannica.com/topic/plaintiff). The trial was intended to determine liability under the Clean Water Act and Natural Resource Damage [Assessments](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Assessments) under the Oil Pollution Act, addressing charges not covered by previous settlement agreements. The proceedings were arranged in three phases. The first, which ended in April, was to assess the degrees to which the three companies were culpable. Of particular import was the distinction between “gross negligence” and “negligence”; the former [designation](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/designation) would result in fines approximately four times higher than those assessed for the latter. The second phase of the trial, which began in late September, was intended to establish the volume of oil released by the spill and whether the preparedness and damage-control efforts of the involved parties were adequate. It ended in late October. The third phase, in which damages would be determined, finished in February 2015. The ruling on the first phase, announced in September 2014, found BP to be 67 percent culpable for the spill and thus grossly negligent. Transocean was held 30 percent liable and Halliburton 3 percent liable; both companies were deemed negligent. The ruling on the second phase, announced in January 2015, set the legal amount of oil for which the involved parties would be liable at 3.19 million barrels. BP had claimed that approximately 2.45 million barrels had leaked, while the U.S. government contended that 4.19 million barrels had spewed into the gulf. In July 2015, in the wake of a rejected Supreme Court appeal regarding the maximum fines for the disaster, a tentative settlement was reached between BP, the federal government, and the five states affected by the spill, with BP estimating that it would cost the company \$18.7 billion. A finalized settlement of \$20.8 billion was announced in October 2015, bringing the third phase to a close. It was the largest financial penalty ever leveled by the U.S. government against a single company. However, some observers noted that a substantial portion of the settlement could be written off on the company’s taxes as a business expense and consequently questioned the severity of the punishment. The settlement was formally approved in April 2016. Load Next Page Feedback Thank you for your feedback Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. *print* Print Please select which sections you would like to print: *verified*Cite While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Select Citation Style Pallardy, Richard. "Deepwater Horizon oil spill". *Encyclopedia Britannica*, 16 Jan. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill. Accessed 9 April 2026. Copy Citation Share Share to social media [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/BRITANNICA/) [X](https://x.com/britannica) URL <https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill> External Websites - [Smithsonian Ocean - Gulf Oil Spill](https://ocean.si.edu/conservation/pollution/gulf-oil-spill) - [National Ocean Service - Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill](https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/apr17/dwh-protected-species.html) - [Frontiers \| Fates of petroleum during the deepwater horizon oil spill: A chemistry perspective](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.928576/full) - [Center for Biological Diversity - A Deadly Toll](https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/energy/dirty_energy_development/oil_and_gas/gulf_oil_spill/a_deadly_toll.html) - [National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Improving the Integration of Restoration and Conservation in Marine and Coastal Ecosystems: Lessons from the Deepwater Horizon Disaster](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6829012/) - [Texas Parks and Wildlife - Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill](https://tpwd.texas.gov/landwater/water/environconcerns/damage_assessment/dwh_spill/) - [Marine Mammal Commission - Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico](https://www.mmc.gov/priority-topics/offshore-energy-development-and-marine-mammals/gulf-of-mexico-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-and-marine-mammals/) - [BBC - The Documentary Podcast - Deepwater Horizon oil spill](https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/p09lx4jf) - [The Oceanography Society - Human Health and Socioeconomic Effects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico](https://tos.org/oceanography/article/human-health-and-socioeconomic-effects-of-the-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-in-the-gulf-of-mexico-1) - [PNAS - Science in support of the Deepwater Horizon response](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1204729109) Britannica Websites Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. - [Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)](https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill-of-2010/544332)

## Legal action ## Charges, settlements, and penalties A formal civil and [criminal investigation](https://www.britannica.com/topic/criminal-investigation) into the spill was initiated in June 2010 by the [U.S. Department of Justice](https://www.britannica.com/topic/US-Department-of-Justice) (DOJ). In August 2010 [Louisiana](https://www.britannica.com/place/Louisiana-state) [district court](https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-States-District-Court) judge Carl Barbier was appointed to oversee the [consolidated](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/consolidated) proceedings relating to the spill, which had prompted numerous lawsuits and precipitated a morass of complex legal entanglements, private and public. The DOJ sued [BP](https://www.britannica.com/money/BP-PLC), Transocean, and Anadarko, a minority owner of the well, in [New Orleans](https://www.britannica.com/place/New-Orleans-Louisiana) civil court in December 2010 for violating the [Clean Water Act](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Clean-Water-Act) and Oil Pollution Act. In early March 2012 BP agreed to settle claims made by the plaintiffs’ steering committee, the consolidated representative body for many of the individual victims of the spill, for at least \$7.8 billion. (The move followed the postponement of a trial scheduled in late February in Louisiana district court.) The monies were to be drawn from the compensation fund [mandated](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mandated) by the Obama administration. Previously managed by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg—who had also overseen the compensation fund for victims of the [September 11 attacks](https://www.britannica.com/event/September-11-attacks)—the fund was transferred to court control as part of the accord. In addition to covering economic losses sustained in the wake of the spill, the [settlement](https://www.britannica.com/topic/settlement-law) mandated the payment of medical claims (which had previously been denied by the fund) and provided for 21 years of further medical monitoring and care, allowing for the delayed onset of symptoms and illnesses. BP remained [liable](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/liable) for substantial additional claims by local and state entities as well as by the federal government. An effort by the company to appeal the agreement, which received final approval in December 2012, was rejected by the [U.S. Supreme Court](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Supreme-Court-of-the-United-States) in December 2014. In November 2012 BP reached an agreement with the DOJ to plead guilty to 14 criminal charges, among them 11 counts of felony [manslaughter](https://www.britannica.com/topic/manslaughter), and violations of the Clean Water and Migratory Bird Treaty acts. The agreement carried penalties and fines amounting to more than \$4.5 billion, of which nearly \$1.26 billion would go to a discretionary fund overseen by the DOJ, some \$2.4 billion to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), and \$350 million to the [National Academy of Sciences](https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Academy-of-Sciences-American-organization) (NAS). BP also agreed to pay more than half a billion dollars to the [Securities and Exchange Commission](https://www.britannica.com/money/Securities-and-Exchange-Commission) for [misleading](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/misleading) its shareholders about the magnitude of the [oil spill](https://www.britannica.com/science/oil-spill). The deal was approved in January 2013. Later in November 2012, the EPA suspended BP from entering into any new federal contracts. That suspension, initially thought to be temporary, was reinforced in January 2013. In February the EPA also issued a separate suspension to the BP subsidiary that had operated the well, the Dallas-based BP Exploration & Production Inc., citing a violation of the Clean Water Act. In August 2013 the company filed suit against the EPA in Texas federal court, asking that the ban be lifted. It was not lifted until March 2014; the company successfully bid on 24 federal contracts later that month. In January 2013 Transocean agreed to a \$1 billion civil penalty under the Clean Water Act. Approximately \$800 million of that amount was earmarked for restoration projects in the gulf, and the remainder was paid to the federal government. The company also pled guilty to criminal violations of the Clean Water Act, resulting in a \$400 million criminal penalty. Of that money, \$300 million was evenly divided between restoration projects [administered](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/administered) by the NFWF and an offshore oil safety research endowment administered by the NAS. The remainder funded a liability trust to be drawn upon in the event of later spills. In May 2015 Transocean resolved claims made by the plaintiffs’ steering committee for some \$211.7 million. [ Britannica Quiz Disasters of Historic Proportion](https://www.britannica.com/quiz/disasters-of-historic-proportion) In July 2013 [Halliburton](https://www.britannica.com/money/Halliburton) agreed to pay a \$200,000 penalty after pleading guilty to criminal charges that its employees had destroyed evidence related to the spill. It settled claims with the plaintiffs’ steering committee for some \$1.1 billion in September 2014. In November 2015 Anadarko was judged liable for some \$159.5 million in civil penalties for its role in the [disaster](https://www.britannica.com/science/disaster). ## Charges against individuals In April 2012 the first criminal charges to come out of the disaster were filed against a former senior drilling engineer for [BP](https://www.britannica.com/money/BP-PLC). Kurt Mix, who had worked for BP until January 2012, was charged in federal court with obstructing [justice](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justice) for deleting hundreds of text messages concerning the flow rate of [oil](https://www.britannica.com/science/petroleum) despite having received legal notification to preserve the correspondence. Some of the messages were forensically recovered; one contained a flow rate estimate three times higher than what BP had publicly attested to at the time. He was convicted in December 2013. In November 2012 two senior officers on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, were charged with manslaughter. David Rainey, the former vice president for exploration in the [Gulf of Mexico](https://www.britannica.com/place/Gulf-of-Mexico-Gulf-of-America), was charged with obstructing [Congress](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Congress-of-the-United-States) and making false statements to law enforcement concerning the rate at which oil was leaking from the rig. The Supreme Court refused to hear a 2015 appeal by the latter official to dismiss the obstruction charge. To the dismay of many observers, none of the individuals who were charged with criminal offenses related to the spill ultimately received prison sentences. Rainey was acquitted in June 2015. Mix was granted a retrial owing to juror misconduct and instead pled guilty to misdemeanor computer fraud charges. He was sentenced to [probation](https://www.britannica.com/topic/probation) and [community](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community) service in November 2015. The manslaughter charges against Kaluza and Vidrine were dropped in December 2015 at the request of the prosecution. Vidrine pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of [pollution](https://www.britannica.com/science/pollution-environment) under the Clean Water Act and in April 2016 was sentenced to probation, community service, and the payment of a fine. Kaluza pled not guilty to the same charge and was cleared in February 2016. ## The civil trial The civil [trial](https://www.britannica.com/topic/trial-law) of BP, Halliburton, and Transocean began in late February 2013 in [New Orleans](https://www.britannica.com/place/New-Orleans-Louisiana). The federal government, as well as individual states and entities, was among the [plaintiffs](https://www.britannica.com/topic/plaintiff). The trial was intended to determine liability under the Clean Water Act and Natural Resource Damage [Assessments](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Assessments) under the Oil Pollution Act, addressing charges not covered by previous settlement agreements. The proceedings were arranged in three phases. The first, which ended in April, was to assess the degrees to which the three companies were culpable. Of particular import was the distinction between “gross negligence” and “negligence”; the former [designation](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/designation) would result in fines approximately four times higher than those assessed for the latter. The second phase of the trial, which began in late September, was intended to establish the volume of oil released by the spill and whether the preparedness and damage-control efforts of the involved parties were adequate. It ended in late October. The third phase, in which damages would be determined, finished in February 2015. The ruling on the first phase, announced in September 2014, found BP to be 67 percent culpable for the spill and thus grossly negligent. Transocean was held 30 percent liable and Halliburton 3 percent liable; both companies were deemed negligent. The ruling on the second phase, announced in January 2015, set the legal amount of oil for which the involved parties would be liable at 3.19 million barrels. BP had claimed that approximately 2.45 million barrels had leaked, while the U.S. government contended that 4.19 million barrels had spewed into the gulf. In July 2015, in the wake of a rejected Supreme Court appeal regarding the maximum fines for the disaster, a tentative settlement was reached between BP, the federal government, and the five states affected by the spill, with BP estimating that it would cost the company \$18.7 billion. A finalized settlement of \$20.8 billion was announced in October 2015, bringing the third phase to a close. It was the largest financial penalty ever leveled by the U.S. government against a single company. However, some observers noted that a substantial portion of the settlement could be written off on the company’s taxes as a business expense and consequently questioned the severity of the punishment. The settlement was formally approved in April 2016.