Statement from TCEQ Commissioner Toby Baker on today's DOJ partial settlement with Transocean

“I am pleased with today’s news that the Transocean defendants have agreed to a partial civil settlement with the United States in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill case.  This is a step in the right direction for continued Gulf Coast recovery efforts and, because a portion of the settlement was for civil penalties, it will begin to fund the activities of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council.

"The work of the Restoration Council has just begun and there remains a long road ahead to restore the Gulf.”

—TCEQ Commissioner Toby Baker

See DOJ News Release.

Commissioner Baker is Governor Rick Perry’s designee on the Restoration Council. The RESTORE Act, passed by Congress in July of 2012, created the Restoration Council and charged it with the oversight and eventual distribution of a significant portion of the federal civil penalties resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill litigation.