More than five years after the Deepwater Horizon well burst forth leaking oil, BP has agreed to an $18.7 billion settlement with five U.S. states and the federal government over the damage caused by the great spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In addition to the payments to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Texas, BP will pay $5.5 billion in penalties to the federal government under the Clean Water Act. That blows away the previous record of $1 billion.

For a full accounting of everything that went wrong out in the gulf, check out PM's full 2012 feature on the 7 things that allowed Deepwater Horizon to happen.

Source: Bloomberg

From: Popular Mechanics
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Andrew's from Nebraska. His work has also appeared in Discover, The Awl, Scientific American, Mental Floss, Playboy, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn with two cats and a snake.