The Obama Administration on Wednesday sent a sixth bill for US$128.5 million to BP and other named responsible parties for response and recovery operations relating to the BP/Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
To date, the administration has sent these six bills to BP and other responsible parties (Transocean, MOEX, and Andarko) for oil removal costs, of which the first five have been reimbursed in full by BP totaling $389.9 million.
Responsible parties are financially liable for all costs associated with oil removal, including efforts to stop the leak at its source, reduce the spread of oil, protect the shoreline and mitigate damage to the public health or welfare.
The Federal Government bills responsible parties regularly for costs approved by the Federal On-Scene Coordinator to support Federal, State, and local removal efforts and ensure the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund is reimbursed on an ongoing basis.
On the same day, BP released its own report into the causes of the Gulf of Mexico disaster saying that no single factor caused the Macondo well tragedy. The oil giant said that a sequence of failures involving a number of different parties led to the explosion and fire which killed 11 people and caused widespread pollution in the area.
The company said that “multiple companies and work teams” contributed to the accident adding that “a complex and interlinked series of mechanical failures, human judgments, engineering design, operational implementation and team interfaces.”
The United States Coast Guard is responsible for administering the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to ensure rapid response to oil spills, to compensate individuals and communities harmed by oil spills, and to ensure that the costs of response and cleanup are borne by the responsible parties.
