(GULF COAST) - BP will pay $4.5 billion for the 2010 oil spill. The oil giant also agreed to plead guilty to 11 felony counts of misconduct related to the 11 men killed in the rig explosion. BP will also plead guilty to one misdemeanor count under the Clean Water Act, one misdemeanor count under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and one felony count of Obstruction of Congress.
The explosion happened April 20, 2010, 50 miles off the Louisiana coast. Millions and millions of gallons of crude oil spewed from the ocean floor. The rig eventually sank into the Gulf, but the oil kept coming for 85 days, more than 200 million gallons of it. Oil coated the ocean from Texas to Florida. The Alabama Gulf Coast was hit especially hard.
For months, life for many on the Gulf Coast revolved around the latest news from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility.
It was an historic environmental and economic disaster for the Gulf Coast, a description usually reserved for hurricanes.
