BP says there’s no longer any need to spend the remainder of the $20 billion fund it established after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, claiming the Gulf of Mexico region has recovered from the disaster and is doing just fine.

 

In documentation filed with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, the oil giant insists the Gulf economy “experienced a robust recovery” last fall after an offshore oil platform exploded and sank months earlier, polluting the ocean with an estimated 200 million gallons of crude oil.

 

To date, less than $5 billion of the fund has been distributed to about 195,000 claimants affected by the spill, which impacted local industries such as fishing and tourism. More than half a million claims have been filed. Payments were disbursed not only to cover actual losses but also future ones.

 

The Mississippi Attorney General sued Gulf Coast Claims Facility administrator Ken Feinberg on Tuesday for access to its claims documents. The attorney general said he wants to see if complaints are being handled in accordance with the Mississippi Consumer Protection Act.  

 

In terms of future expenses related to the accident, a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine states the actual health toll of the spill may never be known. The reason: A study being conducted by the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences wasn’t started until six months after the April 2010 incident.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

BP: Oil-Spill Fund Shouldn't Pay Future Losses as Gulf Recovers (by Angel Gonzalez, Dow Jones Newswires)

Toll of Deepwater Oil Spill on Human Health Still Unknown (by Amanda Gardner, HealthDay)

Fishermen Angry as BP Pushes to End Payments for Future Losses (by Monica Hernandez, WWLTV)

Mississippi AG Sues Feinberg Over Claims Documents (by Dan Murtaugh, Mobile Press-Register)