PANAMA CITY — County officials are keeping a close eye on a trial that begins Tuesday in New Orleans that could decide how much BP pays in penalties for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill — and how much of that money winds up in Bay County coffers.
Judge Carl Barbier will begin hearing arguments between attorneys for BP and the government to determine how much the oil company will be fined for its role in the oil spill. Last week, Barbier determined the company was responsible for dumping 3.2 million barrels of oil. That figure was a victory for BP because it limits the company’s potential exposure to fines. The government contended the figure was 4.2 million barrels, while BP said it was 2.75 million.
Barbier already found BP was grossly negligent in causing the spill in violation of the Clean Water Act, which carries a maximum penalty of $4,300 per barrel spilled; in the absence of the finding of gross negligence, BP would have been exposed to a maximum penalty of $1,100 per barrel. BP is appealing the gross negligence finding.
It will be several months before Barbier puts a price tag on BP’s mistake, said Bay County RESTORE Act Coordinator Jim Muller. Muller said the trial itself likely will take “weeks,” and attorneys on both sides will have a chance to augment their arguments with briefs in March and April. A decision might not arrive until summer or later, he said.
“It will be quite a while,” Muller said, “and then, of course, it can be appealed.”
The forecast for Bay County becomes clearer when BP’s penalty is settled upon, Muller said.
“If BP is fined the maximum fine ... the most Bay County will receive is $87 million,” Muller said.
Typically in cases like this the penalty for violating the Clean Water Act would be put into a trust fund, but the RESTORE Act sets aside 80 percent of the total penalty, of which 35 percent will be divided equally between Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas.
Of the money coming to Florida, 75 percent will be allocated to the eight coastal counties in the Panhandle, including Bay County. Leaders from those counties have met and agreed to a split, which has been approved by the U.S. Treasury Department, Muller said.
Bay County has created a nine-member RESTORE Act advisory committee to help decide how to spend the money when it gets here. Ultimately, the advisory committee will present a ranked list of recommended projects to the Bay County Commission, which has authority to authorize funding for projects that meet the RESTORE Act’s criteria.
When the committee next meets Feb. 24, it will entertain presentations on the 22 proposed projects it is considering funding with $6.3 million from a settlement between the government and Transocean, Muller said. Transocean is the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded and collapsed into the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010.