Obama signs bill to free up money for oil spill clean; feds to require repayment from BP
By APTuesday, June 15, 2010
Obama signs bill to release money for Gulf cleanup
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill that makes more money available to the Coast Guard to pay for its response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The new law removes the $100 million limit that the Coast Guard can spend on the BP spill from a government trust fund used to pay cleanup costs.
The Coast Guard could have run out of money to fight the spill if the spending cap was not lifted. Obama signed the bill Tuesday as he prepared to address the nation on the Gulf spill.
The Obama administration has said it will require BP PLC to pay for all cleanup expenses. Officials sent BP a $69 million bill earlier this month.
BP operated the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded in the Gulf on April 20.
Tags: Accidents, Barack Obama, Environmental Concerns, North America, United States, Washington
