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
Volume and extent of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill water in a "dissolved or dispersed form". On 16 August 2010, UGA scientists said their analysis of federal estimates show that 80% of the oil the government said was gone from the Gulf of Mexico is still there. The Georgia team said "it is a misinterpretation of data to claim that oil that is dissolved is actually gone". Oil began washing up on the beaches of Gulf Islands National Seashore on 1 June 2010. By 4 June 2010, the spill had landed on of Louisiana's coast, had washed up along Mississippi and Alabama barrier islands, and was found for the