BP Fund Shells Out $5.5 Billion To Gulf Coast Claimants

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.

Petroleum Engineering Professor Finds Fault In BP Rig Testing

By Kyle LaFleur

According to Dr. John Rogers Smith, associate professor in Louisiana State University’s Department of Petroleum Engineering, a negative pressure safety test on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig was plagued with problems.

“When they opened the drill string, fluid would continue to flow back rather than stopping which would be indicative that there was a seal,” Smith said during a hearing with the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling “When they then closed the drill string to stop that flow out from the drill string pressure built back up indicating that there were fluids leaking into the well repressurizing the system.” 

Smith said that the test was not run properly.  He described the drill pipe and kill line as two straws going into the same vessel that should have been filled with the same fluid.

“If the test had been ready to conduct as planned, the pressures on the kill line and the drill pipe should have been equal always.  They never achieved that,” said Smith.  

NOAA Opens Another 4,000 Square Miles In Gulf

by Miles Wolf Tamboli - the Talk Radio News Service

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reopened over 4,000 square miles of Gulf waters in western Louisiana to recreational and commercial fishing, Friday, according to a press release issued by the Deepwater Horizon Response Joint Command.

No oil has been reported in the area since July 18, excluding a light sheen on July 29, and trajectory models show that no contamination is expected to enter the area.

The NOAA sampled fish and shrimp in the region from July 26 to July 29 and have declared all samples, “well below the levels of concern.” The NOAA will continue to monitor the area for oil, and will conduct fish sampling to and testing to assure that the seafood is safe.

“We have confidence that seafood harvested from this area is free from harmful oil residues and can be enjoyed by consumers around the nation,” said Margaret Hamburg, M.D., Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

Over 48,000 square miles of the Gulf remain closed as the administration works to determine the ecological and health effects of the BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the highly criticized heavy use of chemical dispersants following the spill. 

As BP Fills Well With Cement, Response Team Moves To Recovery

by Miles Wolf Tamboli - Talk Radio News Service

In an operational update in Washington, Thursday, National Incident Commander Thad Allen stated; “the decision was made last night that the well was in the proper condition where we could cement it. That would increase the integrity of the well, as far as potential leaking of hydrocarbons, and would actually enhance our ability to do the bottom kill … this is not the end, but it will virtually assure us that there will be no chance of oil leaking into the environment.”

After successfully pumping heavy drilling mud into the Macondo deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico, BP was authorized by the Coast Guard last night to begin cementing the well - a large step toward killing the well once and for all.  Cementing began around 8:30 am EST, Thursday, and may take up to two days to cure enough for drilling to resume on two crucial relief wells.

Once the cement has set for a “certain amount of time,” drilling into the annulus (the area between the pipeline and the rock) should take five to seven days, according to top officials.

“this is not the end, but it will virtually assure us that there will be no chance of oil leaking into the environment,” continued Allen; “I will say once again to the people of the Gulf that we are committed to finishing this cleanup, and holding BP accountable, and we will continue to do that.”

In an operational update from New Orleans that afternoon the Federal On-Scene Coordinator, Rear Admiral Paul Zukunft, explained that, 21 days since any oil has entered the Gulf from the Macondo well, he has seen evidence of recovery in heavily-oiled Barataria Bay in Louisiana. 

Zukunft described the resilience of the Gulf ecosystem, and told the press that a key goal in the next phase of the oil spill response will be the inclusion of local leaders in policy-making. He warned, however; “in terms of tar balls washing ashore, we are definitely talking months, potentially years.”

Oil Spill Killed Hundreds Of Sea Turtles, Say Researchers

Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

According to experts, the massive oil spill off the Gulf Coast has killed hundreds of sea turtles. 

“We have about 560 stranded turtles documented. Most of those stranded turtles are dead, that’s the normal course for stranded turtles,” Barbara Schroeder, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries National Sea Turtle Coordinator, said during a conference call with other researchers.  “About 60 were found alive and about 45 remain in rehabilitation.”

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Sea Turtle Coordinator Sandy MacPherson explained efforts to relocate sea turtle nests to the Atlantic Coast.

“The unified command approved plan is currently being implemented and it involves excavating sea turtle nests along Alabama and Florida panhandle beaches and carefully placing them in specially prepared boxes using sand from their own nests,” explained MacPherson. “They are then carefully tended by innovative health applications biologists in a climate controlled facility at the Kennedy Space Center.”

MacPherson said that researchers do not know if the turtles will find their way back to old nesting grounds after being released on east central Florida beaches.

“This nest translocation effort is primarily a rescue effort to prevent hatchlings from encountering oil, or oil product,” MacPherson said.