President turns his back, Corrupt Judges and Corporate Media silence: Gulf Coast Oil Disaster – One Year Later
WWH – Not to mention; dead wildlife, sick humans and a ticking ecological bomb.
BP wants to stop paying Gulf oil spill victims
The British oil company argues its case in a 29-page document made public Friday and filed with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility. The $20 billion fund is responsible for paying for damages from the spill.
The company says the fund should end payments for future losses to everyone, except in limited cases for oyster harvesters.
The company had already argued that fund administrator Ken Feinberg’s formula for determining final payments artificially inflates future expected losses.
BP profits rise, expects Gulf drilling to resume
BP expects to be back drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, where a rig explosion last year killed 11 men and caused the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, in the second half of this year.
After BP PLC reported Wednesday that net profits rose 16 percent in the first quarter, company officials acknowledged the company has applied for permits to restart drilling in the Gulf.
The U.S. government lifted a moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf earlier this year, citing improved security standards and the need to protect communities and workers whose livelihoods depend on drilling.
The costs of the spill have driven BP to make numerous asset sales, boosting net profits in the first quarter to $7.2 billion.
NEW ORLEANS – BP is arguing that most victims of last year’s Gulf oil spill should not get any more payouts for future losses because the hardest-hit areas are recovering and the economy is growing.
Confusion, anxiety in Gulf over BP payments
Of the $20 billion fund established by BP to compensate victims of the oil spill, only $3.8 billon has been paid out to roughly two out of every five people who filed a claim. And, as Don Teague reports, it’s causing confusion and anxiety all along the Gulf.
Racketeering claims tossed in BP oil spill suit
cbsnews.com –
A federal judge on Friday threw out racketeering claims by the lead plaintiffs suing BP over last year’s oil spill, and he gave the company another win by setting aside claims filed by one of BP’s partners in the well project that resulted in the disaster.
Gulf residents and businesses alleged that BP defrauded regulators in connection with the safety of its drilling operations, its ability to respond to any oil spill, and its response to the actual spill. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO law, was originally enacted to combat the Mafia.
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans dismissed the claims, saying there is no proof the plaintiffs were directly harmed by the alleged racketeering. The decision does not affect other damage claims still pending against BP and others from the same plaintiffs. A trial is scheduled for February to determine whether Transocean can limit what it pays claimants under maritime law and to assign percentages of fault to Transocean and other companies involved in the disaster. Read more…
