About Florida's Deepwater Horizon Program

On April 20, 2010, the offshore oil drilling platform Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, causing the largest oil spill in U.S. history. As a result of the disaster, three funding streams were created: compensation for injury/damage under the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), civil penalties administered under the RESTORE Act, and a criminal settlement administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Gulf Environmental Benefits Fund. Each of the funding streams is tied to a particular type of injury or violation, and each one is administered differently.

The state of Florida has also settled with a non-operating investor, MOEX, and utilized those funds for several priority projects.

Below is information about each funding stream with links to more information, settlement information, and how to submit a project proposal for funding consideration.

Deepwater Horizon Projects in Florida

Check out the map of Deepwater Horizon Projects funded in the state of Florida.

Submit a Florida Project Proposal

The department continues to accept project proposals. Projects submitted through our website will be considered for funding under the RESTORE Act's Council-Selected Restoration Component (Bucket 2), Natural Resource Damage Assessment Restoration, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund. To suggest a new project for consideration, please click on the link below.

Please note there is a new user-friendly web based Project Proposal form for submitting project proposal ideas for Deepwater Horizon funding consideration. The new web based form replaces the previously used PDF form. Improvements include the ability to save the form to complete at a later time, easy multiple response answer selection, an interactive map to provide project location information, and auto populated fields when updating a proposal.

To update existing proposals, project proponents will need their Project ID number and original email address.

Deepwater Horizon Settlement

On April 4, 2016, the consent decree between BP, the United States and the five Gulf Coast states was approved and entered into by the court. The consent decree requires BP to pay a total of $18.5 billion, which is broken down between Clean Water Act civil penalties, natural resource damage claims and economic claims across the Gulf states. The state of Florida will receive at least $3.25 billion. Please see links below for more information.

Additional information on other Deepwater Horizon Settlements

Natural Resource Damage Assessment

The Oil Pollution Act authorizes certain state and federal agencies to evaluate the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This legal process, known as Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), determines the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for damages caused by the oil spill. The department is playing a key role in Florida's restoration along with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) as co-trustees on the Deepwater Horizon Trustee Council.

Read more about Natural Resource Damage Assessment.

RESTORE Act

The RESTORE Act, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 2012, and signed into law on July 6, 2012, by the president, provides a vehicle for Clean Water Act civil and administrative penalties from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The act calls for a regional approach to restoring the long-term health of the valuable natural ecosystems and economy of the Gulf Coast region. The RESTORE Act dedicates 80 percent of civil and administrative penalties paid under the Clean Water Act, after the date of enactment, by responsible parties in connection with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund for ecosystem restoration, economic recovery and tourism promotion in the Gulf Coast region. Governor Rick Scott has appointed DEP Secretary Noah Valenstein as his designee to represent Florida on the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, which is responsible for implementing the Comprehensive Plan: Restoring the Gulf Coast's Ecosystem and Economy.

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation established the Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund to administer funds arising from plea agreements that resolve the criminal cases against BP and Transocean. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the department work directly with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to identify projects for the state of Florida, in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Contact Us

Please contact us for more information at deepwaterhorizon@dep.state.fl.us.