Texas Files Lawsuit Against BP, Halliburton, Others for Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

The State of Texas has filed a lawsuit against BP for damages caused by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The suit was filed against BP America and other defendants, and seeks natural resource damages, economic damages, and civil penalties.

Friday’s legal action was filed by the Texas Attorney General’s Office, on behalf of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Texas General Land Office, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The defendants include BP, Transocean, Halliburton, Anadarko, and others.

A press release from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s Office says “Today’s filing follows years of work with Texas’s sister Gulf states and the federal government, as well as BP, to resolve damages associated with harm to the Gulf.”

Texas is seeking civil penalties for every day of oil discharge and for every barrel of oil that was discharged; lost sales tax, state hotel occupancy tax and mixed beverage tax revenue; revenue lost from state park entrance, facility, activity and concession fees; and damages to natural resources, including wildlife and coastal ecosystems.

They also seek attorneys’ fees, court costs, and investigative costs.

The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Beaumont, but the state expects the case to be consolidated with the case already underway in New Orleans.