By Adrianna McGinley
Administrator of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) Kenneth Feinberg announced Thursday before the House Committee on Natural Resources that nearly $5.5 billion has been distrubuted to more than 200,000 claimants.
The committee heard testimony to gain perspective on the status of the $20 billion fund designated to provide relief to those affected by the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Feinberg said he should be held solely responsible for any complaints or concerns regarding the fund and that these filings not be directed towards the Obama administration.
“Any praise about this program or any criticism about this program really should be directed at me and me alone,” Feinberg said. “The administration has largely taken a complete hands off attitude…BP has in no way interfered with my processing of these claims. I am out there on a limb and if it works thank you and if it fails, I bear the brunt of that criticism.”
He added that he believes the relief fund has been largely successful in processing the hundreds of thousands of claims filed thus far.
“People unhappy with my decisions, either as to eligibility or damage, have gone to the United States Coast Guard under the Oil Pollution Control Act and asked the Coast Guard to review my claim and make an independent determination,” he said. “In every single case, every one, the Coast Guard has agreed with my determination. So I think we’re doing something right.”
Feinberg addressed concerns that only 39 percent of claims have been paid, pointing out that many claimants’ files were regarded as ineligible due to a lack of documentation and location. A number of claimants filed complaints because the business in question fell outside of the funds jurisdiction. Feinberg said that 95 percent of claims have already been processed.
Despite Feinberg’s reassurance, activists from the region are unhappy with the work the relief fund has credited itself with.
Faye Williams, an activist from Operation People for Peace and Michelle Roberts from Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, told reporters many Gulf Coast residents are unhappy with the lack of compensation for those whose health was impacted by the spill and argued that the documentation needed to receive medical compensation were near impossible to meet.
“It’s time now for them to get to the individuals who don’t have CEOs to come in here and represent them,” Williams said.