Deepwater Horizon oil spill and payments to a trust fund had cost the company $42.2 billion. In September 2014, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that BP was primarily responsible for the oil spill because of its gross negligence and reckless conduct. In July 2015, BP agreed to pay $18.7 billion in fines, the largest corporate settlement in U.S. history. How the misuse of categorical exclusion for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance relates to this spill is described in Regulatory Capture. The "Deepwater Horizon" was a 10-year-old semi-submersible, mobile, floating, dynamically positioned drilling rig that could operate in waters up to deep. Built
Reactions to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill this spill with everything we've got for as long as it takes. We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused. And we will do whatever's necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy." The President was later reported to have said that "his frustration over the mammoth oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is not an attack on Britain" and that he had "no interest in undermining BP's value", as the two leaders tried to soothe trans-Atlantic tensions over the disaster. On 4 July 2010, the federal government announced that