WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV today issued the following statement after news that the Department of Justice and BP reached a plea agreement:

“The criminal settlement between the Justice Department and BP proves that the company has rightly been held accountable for causing the worst environmental disaster in our history. Since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010, this Committee has sought to discover the extent to which BP was complicit in the loss of workers’ lives, and the harm to natural resources and the livelihoods of so many throughout the Gulf.  I am confident that the pending civil case will hold BP liable for environmental damages and I will continue to closely follow developments.”

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