Landrieu floats plan to lift drilling ban, create shared spill liability fund

Her plan would also speed up payments to Gulf of Mexico states from offshore production royalties, altering the revenue-sharing timeline established in a 2006 law that handed these states a cut of the federal money.

The new bill also creates a Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Fund, which would receive at last 80 percent of the Clean Water Act penalties that BP is expected to owe as a result of the massive Gulf spill.

Under Landrieu’s liability plan, a company is on the hook for damages up to $250 million, but from there costs of up to $10 billion would be covered by a new industry mutual insurance fund. Additional costs above $10 billion are borne directly by responsible companies.

A Landrieu aide said Landrieu, Begich and other senators are still working together on the liability issue.