White House sends BP a $69 million bill





NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Obama administration has sent a $69 million bill to BP for the U.S. government's efforts to help deal with the energy company's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The current $69 million bill accounts for 75% of what BP owes to date, and the company has until July 1 to pay the full amount, an administration official said Thursday.

The Obama administration will bill BP regularly for costs related to the spill, according to the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command, which is the government and industry task force managing the spill response.

"As a responsible party, BP (BP) is financially responsible for all costs associated with the response to the spill," the task force said.

The bill was also sent to Transocean, Andarko, Moex Offshore and QBE Underwriting, a copy of the bill obtained by CNN showed.

Included in the bill sent to BP was a $29 million charge for Federal agencies to operate ships, aircraft and boats to monitor environmental damage and another $29 million charge for the activation and deployment of the National Guard, an administration official said.

BP owes $7 million for removal operations and other environmental assessment efforts and $4 million for the Department of Defense's removal efforts and operation of ships and aircraft.

The money received from BP will help to regularly replenish the $1.5 billion Oil Liability Trust Fund that covers damage costs associated with oil spills, according to the statement.

BP's leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico has been gushing an estimated 19,000 barrels a day since April 20. Earlier this week, the company said its latest efforts to cap the leak -- the biggest in U.S. history -- had failed so far.

"The administration expects prompt payment and will take additional steps as necessary to ensure that BP and other responsible parties, not American taxpayers, pay all of the costs associated with the BP/Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill," the statement said.

The bill obtained by CNN said companies should "expect additional billings as other response costs are finalized" and warned that if BP did not pay in full, interest would be applied.