5/9/2011 - COMPLAINT ALLEGES DEFENDANTS VIOLATED CWA SECTIONS 311 AND 301/402. THE VIOLATIONS AROSE FROM OIL DISCHARGES FROM THE MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNIT, DEEPWATER HORIZON, IN THE GULF OF MEXICO. THE COMPLAINT SEEKS PENALTIES AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF. THIS IS A NATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT CASE.
In June 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana entered a Consent Decree between the United States and MOEX Offshore, to settle MOEX's Clean Water Act liability in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.? According to the terms of the settlement, MOEX will pay $70 million in civil penalties? the largest civil penalty to date under the Clean Water Act ? and will spend $20 million to facilitate land acquisition projects in several Gulf states that will preserve and protect in perpetuity habitat and resources important to water quality. The Federal government will receive $45 million in civil penalties, with the remainder divided between the several Gulf states. MOEX is required to spend $5 million in each of the Region 4 states of Florida and Mississippi and on the land acquisition and protection project.