"Fund has paid $5 billion in claims from BP oil spill" August 24, 2011|By Holbrook Mohr, Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. - The fund set up to compensate victims of last year’s BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has paid more than $5 billion in claims, the fund administrator said yesterday.
Washington, D.C., lawyer Kenneth Feinberg also released a summary of payouts from the $20 billion fund, which was established in August 2010 to help people whose lives and businesses were hurt by the spill....
“The Gulf Coast Claims Facility has largely succeeded in its primary objective - to compensate those individuals and businesses who can demonstrate financial harm due to the Oil Spill,’’ the report says. “The compensation program has not been perfect; but several midcourse corrections have been made in an effort to deal with the constructive criticism offered by victims of the spill, public officials, and others.’’
Cover up complete and costs mitigated.
Critics say the claims process has been too slow, difficult to navigate, and lacked transparency. The critics include Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, who sued Feinberg in July to get access to claims filed by coastal residents. Hood wants to make the claims process more transparent....
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