Mealey's (April 5, 2016, 11:59 AM EDT) -- NEW ORLEANS — The federal judge in Louisiana presiding over litigation stemming from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and ensuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on April 4 approved an $18 billion settlement offered by BP Exploration and Production Inc. to resolve Clean Water Act (CWA) and natural resource damages claims brought by the federal government and states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas (In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig “Deepwater Horizon” in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, MDL 2179, Case No. 09-md-2179, E.D. La)....