It has been said that Westwego officials have made an $823,023 settlement with BP over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The City Council gave approval to the proposal during a meeting on Monday night, said Mayor John Shaddinger.

BP has agreed to pay $18.7 billion to five states and the federal governments as compensation for economic losses sustained in the disaster. Out of the total amount, an estimated $1 billion will be kept aside for local governments.

US District Judge Carl Barbier gave Wednesday’s time to municipalities and local government agencies to consider the proposed settlements. On Monday, the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-West approved a $2 million agreement with BP.

The April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill killed 11 oil rig workers and spilled more than 3 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

The BP oil spill had countless negative effects to the Gulf Coast, but local scientists are using it as an opportunity to learn and find out ways to control the situation in case an accident as big as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill ever occurs again.

When asked by News 25 about the actual status of the water, Dr. Monty Graham, interim director of the Gulf Coast Laboratory said that the recovery has been good. The seafood is safe to eat and there is no residual toxicity in the water that could keep people from swimming.

Dr. Graham, said “As we go forward in the next year to five years or ten years is to make sure that people are educated about the ecosystem and how the ecosystem responds to things like this”.