Clean Water Act · 1991 Public record Prince William Sound spill
Exxon (Exxon Valdez) · Alaska
~$1 billion
settlement · log scale, $16.5M to $14.7B
The settlement that reset the price of an oil spill.
After the 1989 tanker grounding fouled 1,300 miles of Alaskan coastline, the 1991 settlement combined a $900 million civil recovery paid over ten years with $100 million in criminal restitution.
Source: U.S. DOJ / EPA / State of Alaska settlement, 1991
Clean Water Act · 2015 Public record Deepwater Horizon / Macondo well
BP Exploration & Production · Gulf of Mexico
$5.5 billion
settlement · log scale, $16.5M to $14.7B
The largest Clean Water Act penalty in U.S. history.
For the 2010 blowout that discharged millions of barrels of oil, BP agreed to a $5.5 billion Clean Water Act civil penalty - part of a record $20.8 billion global settlement with the United States and five Gulf states.
Source: U.S. DOJ / EPA consent decree, 2015 (entered 2016)