Lawmakers have added $15 million to the attorney general's budget to pay for Louisiana's ongoing legal case against BP for damages caused by the 2010 Gulf oil spill.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Lawmakers have added $15 million to the attorney general's budget to pay for Louisiana's ongoing legal case against BP for damages caused by the 2010 Gulf oil spill.
The Legislature's joint budget committee Friday tapped into money from a set-aside fund that includes fees, taxes and penalties paid by the oil industry to pay for the legal work in the fiscal year that began July 1.
But the fund doesn't contain the full amount needed, so the treasury will borrow from other available pools of state money to cover the attorney general's costs until the fund balance catches up.
Attorney General Buddy Caldwell's office says the money largely will pay for outside attorneys and experts working on the litigation.
Nearly $45 million has been spent on the work so far.