- Jun 6, 2007
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On June 16 outside the White House, the Chairman of the Board of British Petroleum (BP) backed by his top people announced his agreement with the President to a $20 billion escrow account to compensate victims of the Gulf oil well leak. BP Chairman Svanberg stated the oil leak should never have happened, BP will fix the damage staying until the work is done and BP cared about the "little people" of the Gulf. To commoners in America it doesn't seem that BP stands by its words because to date not a dime has been deposited in this victim's escrow account by BP and many Gulf residents are really financially hurting, Mr. Feinberg the administrator of the fund is ready to help them but has no money available to do so. Maybe outside the White House the press should have asked Chairman Svanberg whether BP cared about the shrimp people, specifically, the po' boy shrimp people, maybe these people were in a loophole from the start!
BP was supposed to have paid $2 billion into this escrow account so far, but as stated hasn't. In terms of claims they have only paid out approximately $200 million to date, the oil well accident occurred on April 20th, common sense would indicate that people of the Gulf region have incurred losses of a lot more than $200 million. This specific problem is emblematic of the key problem with this whole Deepwater Horizon Oil rig explosion and ensuing oil well leak, the White House keeps passing off the responsibility for caring about the Gulf region and its people to BP who have demonstrated they either can't or won't adequately handle the task! From the White House's side of things it sure seems like their dragging their feet because they don't want to come up with the money to help Gulf residents. However, this is colossally stupid thinking on the White House's part because they willl certainly get all or most of the money back either volunatarily or by lawsuits (civil and criminal). Just by fines alone related to the amount of oil leaked negligently BP is facing a fine of $18 billion, practically experts are saying without a doubt the fine will be at least $4 to $5 billion; the criminal negligence case against BP is at least very strong and probably a slam dunk so the Federal Government will get compensatory/restitution damages. The White House should stop letting the people of the Gulf financially drown here and advance the escrow account $2 billion and come September if BP hasn't deposited the $3 billion promised advance the $3 billion, the White House is gambling with a Public Relations disaster here if News Networks start documenting the extreme suffering of Gulf oil victims that is fast approaching! On compensating individidual claimanits, CNN last night reported on a case which calls for some major guidelines to be set by Mr. Feinberg and his staff in doling out money - CNN reported on a lady who essentially ran a fising party boat business in the Gulf who claimed that her net losses to herself from her business were $600,000 dollars; this seems high Mr. Feinberg said to his great credit for the hurting victims of the Gulf that he was going to pay claims quickly like within days I hope that he has a limit of $125,000 per six months for personal income for this quick turn around because big claims like this $600,000 claim really need to be investigated for accuracy because the American people want BP to survive and it won't if they are taken advantage of here!
Gulf residents have another hard reality they must face which is the leaked oil is not being found on the surface of the Gulf ocean so it can't be skimmed. The leaked oil has dispersed throughout the depths of the ocean in the Gulf which doesn't in the least mean that the danger to the Gulf coast from oil is over, the normal currents and almost certain tropical storms and hurricanes coming soon will bring the oil into the Gulf coast. BP is going to be saving a lot of money from shuting down the skimming operations because oil is no longer found on the ocean surface, the White House should either elicit, compel or advance the money themselve to increase sand berms along the Gulf coast to protect its estuaries and marshes especially those that contain fish nurseries. To date, the Army Corp of Enigneers has only approved forty miles of sand berms on the Gulf coast if the White House steps up now and expands this program which they certainly could if they had the will they could really make a big difference for the people of the Gulf and protect their precious environmental treasure. In addition, time is not going to allow for big barrier projects to protect the "entire at risk" Gulf Coast, something like 600 miles of the coast has already been touched with oil. But why doesn't the White House order the appropiate Federal Agencies to allow local citizens and grass root efforts to build sand barriers at the edge of marshes and other important areas along the coast, permit it if these groups use biodegradable materials as containers for the sand, etc.. - every mile of coast protected with barriers is a mile that won't have to be cleaned of oil later if it ever can be cleaned. America often sees grass root groups in communities across American doing amazing work in building levees to protect against flooding, why doesn't the White House try to foster this local action on the Gulf coast, certainly the stakes are worth the try!
BP was supposed to have paid $2 billion into this escrow account so far, but as stated hasn't. In terms of claims they have only paid out approximately $200 million to date, the oil well accident occurred on April 20th, common sense would indicate that people of the Gulf region have incurred losses of a lot more than $200 million. This specific problem is emblematic of the key problem with this whole Deepwater Horizon Oil rig explosion and ensuing oil well leak, the White House keeps passing off the responsibility for caring about the Gulf region and its people to BP who have demonstrated they either can't or won't adequately handle the task! From the White House's side of things it sure seems like their dragging their feet because they don't want to come up with the money to help Gulf residents. However, this is colossally stupid thinking on the White House's part because they willl certainly get all or most of the money back either volunatarily or by lawsuits (civil and criminal). Just by fines alone related to the amount of oil leaked negligently BP is facing a fine of $18 billion, practically experts are saying without a doubt the fine will be at least $4 to $5 billion; the criminal negligence case against BP is at least very strong and probably a slam dunk so the Federal Government will get compensatory/restitution damages. The White House should stop letting the people of the Gulf financially drown here and advance the escrow account $2 billion and come September if BP hasn't deposited the $3 billion promised advance the $3 billion, the White House is gambling with a Public Relations disaster here if News Networks start documenting the extreme suffering of Gulf oil victims that is fast approaching! On compensating individidual claimanits, CNN last night reported on a case which calls for some major guidelines to be set by Mr. Feinberg and his staff in doling out money - CNN reported on a lady who essentially ran a fising party boat business in the Gulf who claimed that her net losses to herself from her business were $600,000 dollars; this seems high Mr. Feinberg said to his great credit for the hurting victims of the Gulf that he was going to pay claims quickly like within days I hope that he has a limit of $125,000 per six months for personal income for this quick turn around because big claims like this $600,000 claim really need to be investigated for accuracy because the American people want BP to survive and it won't if they are taken advantage of here!
Gulf residents have another hard reality they must face which is the leaked oil is not being found on the surface of the Gulf ocean so it can't be skimmed. The leaked oil has dispersed throughout the depths of the ocean in the Gulf which doesn't in the least mean that the danger to the Gulf coast from oil is over, the normal currents and almost certain tropical storms and hurricanes coming soon will bring the oil into the Gulf coast. BP is going to be saving a lot of money from shuting down the skimming operations because oil is no longer found on the ocean surface, the White House should either elicit, compel or advance the money themselve to increase sand berms along the Gulf coast to protect its estuaries and marshes especially those that contain fish nurseries. To date, the Army Corp of Enigneers has only approved forty miles of sand berms on the Gulf coast if the White House steps up now and expands this program which they certainly could if they had the will they could really make a big difference for the people of the Gulf and protect their precious environmental treasure. In addition, time is not going to allow for big barrier projects to protect the "entire at risk" Gulf Coast, something like 600 miles of the coast has already been touched with oil. But why doesn't the White House order the appropiate Federal Agencies to allow local citizens and grass root efforts to build sand barriers at the edge of marshes and other important areas along the coast, permit it if these groups use biodegradable materials as containers for the sand, etc.. - every mile of coast protected with barriers is a mile that won't have to be cleaned of oil later if it ever can be cleaned. America often sees grass root groups in communities across American doing amazing work in building levees to protect against flooding, why doesn't the White House try to foster this local action on the Gulf coast, certainly the stakes are worth the try!
