Fla. officials: Don’t let BP off the hook
PENSACOLA, Fla., July 12, 2011 – A memo written last week by BP to federal officials prompted harsh words Monday from Florida officials and business leaders who are crying foul over the company’s stance of not paying most future Gulf coast claims resulting from last year’s oil spill.
Days after BP sent a memo to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) saying the region has rebounded and many future payments should be suspended, U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson both said the company responsible for the Deepwater Horizon disaster needs to honor its promise to make the region whole following the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
After paying more than $4.6 billion to private citizens and businesses since the April 20, 2010 spill, BP officials have told federal overseers that the Gulf coast economy is mostly back on its feet. And that’s what the claims were for – to help the region recover, the company says.
Speaking to reporters in Pensacola following a public hearing nearly a year after the leaking well was capped, Rubio said he’s concerned about the memo sent July 7 to the GCCF, especially because some effects of the spill may not be fully realized for several years.
“BP, from a corporate perspective, is trying to get out of here as quickly as they can,” Rubio said. “They are trying to disengage from this process as soon as they can. And I think it is incumbent on us policymakers to make sure that doesn’t happen, and that BP fulfills its obligations to this region.”
In a letter sent last week to the GCCF, which has been set up to reimburse people and businesses for spill-related costs, BP says claims for continuing damage should be limited to a small minority of applicants such as oyster harvesters whose businesses have yet to rebound.
The company said that the big economic impact – the hit to the region’s tourism industry – has passed since visitors have returned.
“Multiple lines of evidence show that, to the extent certain portions of the Gulf economy were impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Gulf economy experienced a robust recovery in the fall of 2010, and that economic performance remains strong in 2011,” the company wrote.
Under the direction of Ken Feinberg, the GCCF has distributed more than $4.6 billion.
Overall, the facility has received more than 502,000 claims. It has also come under intense fire from many along the Gulf Coast, who say the process is slow and wrought with inconsistency.
“BP doesn’t need to be protected from the citizenry,” U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., wrote Monday in a letter to Feinberg. “It’s the other way around.”
On Monday, Rubio held a public hearing on behalf of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, which is expected to craft federal legislation to divvy up fines expected to be paid by BP under the federal Clean Water Act.
However, any proposed legislation is still several weeks, possibly months, away, Rubio said.
“I would tell people to take a deep breath because everything in Washington moves very slow and I don’t have any reason to believe that this won’t be the case here as well,” Rubio said.
During Monday’s hearing, Rubio heard from local officials and business leaders, many of whom are still waiting for payment from BP for damage following the spill, which was finally capped on July 15, 2010.
John Dixon, a dive shop owner from Port St. Joe, is still awaiting payment for his lost business. He has since closed up shop. Dixon said he initially believed that BP would stand firm in its pledge to “get it right” in the Gulf, but his confidence was shaken with the July 7 memo.
“Last Thursday that progress was lost,” Dixon said. “It looks like they are back to profits over the people, safety and the environment.”
Rep. Doug Broxson, R-Gulf Breeze, whose district was among the most heavily affected by the spill, said months of frustration with BP and the GCCF have prompted him to ask federal officials to find another way to distribute the money remaining in the $20 billion BP recovery fund. With long delays and seemingly arbitrary and disparate outcomes, the GCCF has lost credibility and needs to be replaced, he said.
“There has got to be a better way,” Broxson said.
Since the spill, the Panhandle tourism market has rebounded, thanks to good weather and marketing campaigns – paid for, in part, by the company – that have lured tourists back to the region. In its letter to GCCF, BP included several studies and newspaper accounts showing that tourists have returned.
Such a rebound, the company claims, is evidence that the spill is no longer affecting the economy in many sectors. If true, it’s time to shut down the payments, it says.
“The current economic data do not suggest that individual and business claimants face a material risk of future loss caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,” the company concludes.
Florida Agriculture Commission Adam Putnam, who attended Monday’s hearing held on the campus of Pensacola State College, said the company is getting ahead of itself.
“My feeling is that they still have a lot of claims in line before they start closing the purse,” Putnam said.
Broxson said he was not surprised by BP’s memo that he characterized as a well-timed step in BP’s exit strategy.
“I’m trying not to be cynical, but when you spend several million hiring consultants, you probably have this planned out,” Broxson said.
BP officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Source: News Service of Florida, Michael Peltier
