The Hess Corp. has agreed to pay $8.7 million to settle a federal and state lawsuit over a 2005 spill in Breton Sound of a dozen barrels of crude oil blamed for killing hundreds of then-endangered brown pelicans and other birds. In a settlement agreement filed in federal court in New Orleans on Friday (Nov. 9), the company agreed to pay most of the money to the U.S. Interior Department, which controls West Breton Island where the oil went ashore.
Part of the money also will go to repaying the costs by Interior, other federal agencies and the Louisiana Oil Spill Control Office in responding to the spill.
Immediately after the spill, Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, a nonprofit organization, set up a “bird city” in Venice, where oiled birds were washed and allowed to recuperate for more than three months.
Bird veterinary teams from around the nation experienced in treating oiled birds also responded to the spill.
The spill was discovered in June 2005 by workers returning to the company’s Breton Sound 51 platform after evacuating in advance of Tropical Storm Arlene. The platform was about 60 miles southeast of New Orleans.
Oil had leaked from a storage tank on the platform, and while it only totaled about 500 gallons, it was enough to kill more than 450 pelicans, most too young to fly. More than 300 oiled pelicans were treated at the rehabilitation center.
Under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, parties responsible for spills are required to work with federal and state “trustees” to determine the effects of the spill and then to plan ways to repair or compensate for the natural resource damages.
In the consent agreement, Hess does not admit fault, but agrees to pay the compensation.
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Source: Nola.com
