NEW ORLEANS — Environmental groups and a New Orleans energy company have reached a settlement agreement in a lawsuit stemming from the company’s failed efforts to stop a decade-old, slow-motion oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
A federal court filing Thursday stated that an agreement had been reached between Taylor Energy Company and the environmental groups. Taylor said in a news release it has agreed under the settlement to make a $300,000 donation to a Louisiana marine research consortium and to fund $100,000 in research on the ecological effects of small, long term leaks in the Gulf.
Taylor also said it will host a public forum and publish a website with information on the company’s spill response.
Environmental groups led by the New York City-based Waterkeeper Alliance sued Taylor Energy in 2012, accusing it of withholding information about the leak’s potential impact on the Gulf ecosystem. The groups also argued that the public was entitled to know more about the company’s government-supervised effort to stop the leak, which was the subject of an Associated Press investigation in April.
A trial for the groups’ lawsuit was scheduled to start Oct. 5.