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Other short titles | Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act |
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Acronyms (colloquial) | RESTORE Act |
Enacted by | the 112th United States Congress |
Effective | July 6, 2012 |
Codification | |
Acts amended | Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act |
Legislative history | |
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The RESTORE Act (the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act) is a United States federal statute that was signed into law by President Barack Obama on July 6, 2012. [1] It was enacted by the 112th United States Congress as an amendment of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), a transportation bill that included many other provisions. [2] The act was in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred on April 20, 2010, which caused significant environmental, ecological, and economic damage to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon , an oil rig located in the Gulf of Mexico that was owned by Transocean and drilling for British Petroleum (BP) exploded, killing 11 workers and injuring 16. The rig burned for over a day before it sank into the gulf on April 22, 2010. Following the explosion, the seafloor oil gusher flowed for 87 days, spilling an estimated 4.9 million barrels (780,000 m3) of oil into the gulf. [3]
The spill resulted in widespread damage to the environment and ecology of the gulf coast states, as well as subsequent economic damage to their tourism and fishing industries. BP settled with the Department of Justice for a record-high $4.525 billion in fines, however further legal proceedings are ongoing. In September 2014, a U.S. district judge issued a ruling that BP was mostly responsible for the spill, which could result in as much as $18 billion in additional penalties under the Clean Water Act. [4]
The purpose of the RESTORE Act is to direct the allocation of civil penalties paid after July 6, 2012 under the Clean Water Act. It directs that eighty percent of the money collected will go the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund in the U.S. Treasury Department, a trust fund created under the bill, [5] and that twenty percent will go to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which is managed by the U.S. Coast Guard and available primarily for oil spill related emergency response efforts. [6]
The eighty percent that will go to the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund will be allocated as follows: [7]
On July 21, 2011, Senators Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) introduced the RESTORE Act with support from environmental and business organizations. [8] On March 14, 2012, the Senate passed the RESTORE Act as an amendment to the transportation bill 76-22. On June 29, 2012, both the House and Senate passed the full transportation bill by votes of 373-52 and 74-19, respectively. On July 6, 2012, President Barack Obama signed the transportation bill, including the RESTORE Act, into law. [9]
Transocean Ltd. is an American company. It is the world's largest offshore drilling contractor based on revenue and is based in Vernier, Switzerland. The company has offices in 20 countries, including Canada, the United States, Norway, Scotland, India, Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean. Built in 2001 in South Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries, the rig was commissioned by R&B Falcon, registered in Majuro, and leased to BP from 2001 until September 2013. In September 2009, the rig drilled the deepest oil well in history at a vertical depth of 35,050 ft (10,683 m) and measured depth of 35,055 ft (10,685 m) in the Tiber Oil Field at Keathley Canyon block 102, approximately 250 miles (400 km) southeast of Houston, in 4,132 feet (1,259 m) of water.
The U.S. offshore drilling debate is an ongoing debate in the United States on whether or not, the extent to which, in which areas, and under what conditions, further offshore drilling should be allowed in U.S.-administered waters.
Carl Joseph Barbier is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered to be the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and estimated to be 8 to 31 percent larger in volume than the previous largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill, also in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. federal government estimated the total discharge at 4.9 Mbbl. After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on 19 September 2010. Reports in early 2012 indicated that the well site was still leaking. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is regarded as one of the largest environmental disasters in American history.
The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion was an April 20, 2010 explosion and subsequent fire on the Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit, which was owned and operated by Transocean and drilling for BP in the Macondo Prospect oil field about 40 miles (64 km) southeast off the Louisiana coast. The explosion and subsequent fire resulted in the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon and the deaths of 11 workers; 17 others were injured. The same blowout that caused the explosion also caused an oil well fire and a massive offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the world, and the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.
The following is a timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It was a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. It was a result of the well blowout that began with the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion on April 20, 2010.
The civil and criminal proceedings stemming from the explosion of Deepwater Horizon and the resulting massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began shortly after the April 20, 2010 incident and have continued since then. They have included an extensive claims settlement process for a guilty plea to criminal charges by BP, and an ongoing Clean Water Act lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and other parties.
This article covers the effect of the Deepwater Horizon disaster and the resulting oil spill on global and national economies and the energy industry.
Following is a timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for June 2010.
Following is a timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for July 2010.
Following is a Timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for May 2010.
Reactions to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill from various officials and interested parties ranged from blame and outrage at the damage caused by the spill, to calls for greater accountability on the part of the U.S. government and BP, including new legislation dealing with preventative security and clean-up improvements.
Following is a timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for August 2010.
The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force is the organization created by President Barack Obama to recover from the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and preserve the ecosystem of the Gulf Coast of the United States.
Oil spill governance in the United States is governed by federal law.
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been described as the worst environmental disaster in the United States, releasing about 4.9 million barrels of crude oil making it the largest marine oil spill. Both the spill and the cleanup efforts had effects on the environment.
The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust is the $20 billion trust fund established by BP to settle claims arising from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The fund was established to be used for natural resource damages, state and local response costs and individual compensation. It was established as Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF), announced on 16 June 2010 after meeting of BP executives with U.S. President Barack Obama. In June 2012, the settlement of claims through the GCCF was replaced by the court supervised settlement program.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was discovered on the afternoon of 22 April 2010 when a large oil slick began to spread at the former rig site. According to the Flow Rate Technical Group, the leak amounted to about 4.9 million barrels of oil, exceeding the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill as the largest ever to originate in U.S.-controlled waters and the 1979 Ixtoc I oil spill as the largest spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP has challenged this calculation saying that it is overestimated as it includes over 810,000 barrels of oil which was collected before it could enter the Gulf waters.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred between 10 April and 19 September 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. A variety of techniques were used to address fundamental strategies for addressing the spilled oil, which were: to contain oil on the surface, dispersal, and removal. While most of the oil drilled off Louisiana is a lighter crude, the leaking oil was of a heavier blend which contained asphalt-like substances. According to Ed Overton, who heads a federal chemical hazard assessment team for oil spills, this type of oil emulsifies well. Once it becomes emulsified, it no longer evaporates as quickly as regular oil, does not rinse off as easily, cannot be broken down by microbes as easily, and does not burn as well. "That type of mixture essentially removes all the best oil clean-up weapons", Overton said.