Settlement of natural resource claims. The United States and
the state of California agreed on settlement terms with three of the defendants
(BP America, Inc., BP Oil Supply Company, and BP Oil Shipping Company, USA) in
1994. The terms of the settlement are set forth in a state
settlement agreement and a parallel federal consent
decree. Because of challenges to the settlement from nonsettling
defendants, settlement moneys were not available until 1998. The settlement,
with accrued interest, covered the natural resource ecological damage claim and
a number of other items including:
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$2,484,567 to address bird-related natural resource injuries.
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$400,000 to the state of California for a white sea bass fish hatchery program
at Agua Hedionda Lagoon.
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$300,000 for ocean and coastal pollution mitigation and monitoring projects to
be administered by the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project.
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$79,680 for revenue losses incurred by the California Department of Parks.
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$630,000 to state agencies and local governments for response costs.