TALLAHASSEE — Oil giant BP has agreed to pay Florida $20 million over the next three years to cover the cost of seafood inspections and a marketing campaign, Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Bronson will announce later today.
Bronson in July estimated that aggressive seafood testing in the wake of the April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico could cost the state $59 million over the next 10 years. Then he'd asked BP to fund that amount.
But that estimate was a worst-case scenario calculated before anyone knew how long the oil would be flowing, said department spokeswoman Liz Compton. BP officials signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday, Compton said.
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