On April 21, 2011, the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Trustee Council announced an agreement under which BP committed to provide $1 billion toward implementation of early restoration projects. This agreement is the largest of its kind ever reached. It represents an initial step toward fulfilling the responsible parties’ obligation to fund the complete restoration of injured natural resources.

In early 2013, a U.S. District Court approved two plea agreements resolving the criminal cases against BP and Transocean which arose from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The agreements direct a total of $2.544 billion to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to fund projects benefiting the natural resources of the Gulf Coast that were impacted by the spill. Over the next five years, NFWF’s newly established Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund will receive a total of $1.272 billion for barrier island and river diversion projects in Louisiana, $356 million each for natural resource projects in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi, and $203 million for similar projects in Texas.

The RESTORE Act, which was signed into law July 6th, 2012, as part of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (Public Law 112-141), established a mechanism for providing funding to the Gulf region to restore ecosystems and rebuild local economies damaged by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.