WASHINGTON -- Today (Jan. 3), in a second settlement arising from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, Transocean Deepwater Inc., the operator of the drilling platform, agreed to pay $1.4 billion in civil and criminal penalties to the federal government.

Under Transocean's settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, $150 million of the total will be contributed to a recently announced 30-year program for studies, projects, and activities focused on environmental protection and human health in the Gulf of Mexico. The program will be directed by the National Academy of Sciences. As a result of today's action, the NAS program's initial funding of $350 million, which stemmed from the Justice Department's criminal settlement with BP in November 2012, will increase to $500 million. NAS expects that today's legal action will complete funding for the program.

The Transocean and BP agreements both recognize that the NAS program will be conducted solely at the direction of the NAS, based on scientific merit and integrity with emphasis on freedom of inquiry and independent, nonpartisan advice and recommendations. Among its activities, the NAS program will fund projects in the public interest not otherwise supported by industry. Neither BP nor Transocean will be involved in any decisions related to the NAS program.

• Nov. 15, 2012, Public Statement by Ralph J. Cicerone, NAS President