BP has announced they have agreed to pay $340 million of the $1 billion that they initially agreed to pay for early restoration through Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA). This is news that U.S. Senator David Vitter welcomes.

This payment being announced today is certainly a good step to ensure that the NRDA money for which Louisiana should be the greatest benefactor is spent appropriately.

David Vitter (United States Senate)
Sen. David Vitter (United States Senate)
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This is something that Senator Vitter has spoken about before, saying he has "been concerned that BP is dragging its feet on NRDA, possibly so that Clean Water Act (CWA) fines pursuant to the settlement can be utilized for crucial projects that NRDA dollars should cover separately.”

In February 12, 2013, Sen. Vitter says he wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking him not to settle with BP for the fines due under the Clean Water Act until agreement on the responsibility for NRDA penalties has been reached.

On March 22, 2013 Vitter wrote an op-ed for The Hill entitled, “We must get BP settlement structure right.”

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