A three-year legal fight over how the state of Alabama spent tens of millions of dollars in BP oil spill recovery money at Gulf State Park has come to a close, with state officials agreeing to dedicate $65 million over the next two decades to public access improvements at the Baldwin County park.
The settlement resolves a lawsuit brought by the Gulf Restoration Network, a nonprofit environmental group, against the federal trustees who approved the use of Natural Resource Damage Assessment funds for the Gulf State Park Enhancement Project. Those funds, generated in the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, are meant to pay for early restoration projects tied to environmental and public damages caused by the disaster.
At issue was how the project’s roughly $58.5 million budget was divided. Of that total, about $48 million went toward constructing a new lodge and conference center at the park, while only about $10 million was set aside for public access amenities such as trails, parking and educational facilities. The Gulf Restoration Network argued that split shortchanged the public benefit the restoration funds were supposed to provide.
The dispute reached a turning point last year when a federal judge ruled that early phases of the project had not followed the legal requirements governing how NRDA funds can be used. That ruling temporarily halted work on the project and set the stage for negotiations that ultimately produced the settlement.
Since the 2010 spill, a group of trustees representing several federal agencies and the five Gulf Coast states affected by the disaster has overseen the NRDA process, directing roughly $1 billion in early restoration spending. BP received credit against its overall spill liability for those contributions, reducing the total owed under the $20.8 billion settlement finalized in federal court in Louisiana in 2016.
Under the terms reached in the Gulf State Park case, the state has committed to spending $65 million over the next 20 years on projects such as dune maintenance, free public parking, walking and pedestrian trails, research and education facilities, and a free tram system connecting different areas of the park. The agreement also guarantees continued public access to restrooms in the lodge as well as beach access through the building itself, and it blocks construction of a north-south connector road through the park for the next two decades.
An attorney representing the Gulf Restoration Network said the settlement ensures that money intended to benefit the public will actually be used for that purpose going forward. The group’s executive director called the outcome a win for Alabama residents, noting that it locks in decades of free beach and park access at a time when the state has scaled back services at other public facilities.
The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which was added to the lawsuit in 2015 because of its oversight role on the project, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The agency’s commissioner has previously said he was pleased with the settlement, telling reporters it addressed concerns raised in the lawsuit while ensuring the park’s public access features would be properly maintained.
Construction at Gulf State Park has continued throughout the litigation. Crews have been building a roughly 350-room hotel that will include a beachfront ballroom, pool, restaurant and bar, with the project on track to open in the fall. State leaders have described the new lodge and conference center as a major addition to Alabama’s tourism offerings along the Gulf Coast.
The Gulf State Park Enhancement Project remains one of the most closely watched uses of BP restoration money in Baldwin County, and the settlement is expected to shape how future NRDA-funded projects along the Alabama coast balance development with public access and environmental restoration.