Alabama Selling Bonds Backed by Deepwater Horizon Settlement
- State’s getting money from $1 billion settlement up front
- Bond proceeds also would fund Medicaid and transportation
Smoke billows from controlled oil burns near the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, on June 19, 2010.
Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil-rig disaster, featured in a major-motion picture opening next week, may soon help Alabama rebuild its reserves, pay Medicaid expenses and fund road projects.
Alabama plans to use annual payments from a $1 billion settlement with U.K. oil producer BP Plc to back bonds issued within the next two months, said Bill Newton, the state’s acting director of finance, who also sits on the Alabama Economic Settlement Authority, which was created to handle the debt issue. The state will receive the payments under the settlement for 18 years.