Ken Feinberg said today he hasn’t been able to start writing claims checks because BP PLC has not yet deposited any money into the $20 billion escrow fund it promised to create.

“I don’t want the check to bounce,” Feinberg said.

BP spokesman Justin Saia said the company’s agreement with the White House is still being finalized. “Funds will be made available immediately upon the conclusion of this process,” he said.

Well, okay then…

Sorry Justin if you’re not necessarily trusted…put the money where your oil is. As this article points out it would be a really dishonest thing for BP to leak a profit margin of 5 billion dollars in anticipation of their shareholders meeting on July 27th, for the purposes of gauging response, only to declare bankruptcy before August 10th if their stock doesn’t get a strong enough boost. August 10th is the date Feinberg gets control of the account…yes, it is complete speculation and perhaps even a worse case scenario, but seriously, it’s getting hard to expect anything less from British Petroleum than the worst case.

Here’s what Kenneth Feinberg had to say to CNN:

In an accompanying link, the payment system is discussed and it does raise some interesting questions. Basically, according to Feinberg:

1. For 90 days after the spill is permanently stopped, Feinberg will give emergency payments worth six months of lost wages or business income to those with valid claims.

2. 90 days after the spill is permanently stopped, any claimant has three years to ask for a lump sum payment that will cover a lifetime’s worth of damage from the spill.

3. To accept the lump sum payment, the claimant has to give up their right to sue BP at a later time.

4. Anyone who doesn’t believe the lump sum offer is enough can refuse and sue BP for the amount they feel they deserve.

This begs a number of questions…What constitutes a valid claim? I’ve read numerous articles discussing the oft-times poor record keeping by many fisherman, what will that cost them now? Also, how does one estimate a lifetime’s worth of damage? Is that Feinberg’s role, to determine this? How the hell does he know? And, giving up the right to sue BP, the fisherman have a three-year window…that window is too small, especially for those who have been out helping clean this mess up…some health effects won’t be known for much longer than three years and I doubt potential medical bills will be considered by Feinberg in his estimations. By the time everyone starts getting sick, the lump sum payment window could be closed and then you’ve lost the right to sue. The workers in Alaska cleaning up after the Exxon Valdez had it worse than rough; their life expectancy was only 51 years and two-thirds of the workers got sick. How to estimate the future costs of getting sick? How sick?

Especially when an EPA whistle-blower states the Federal government is covering up the lethality of Corexit and the safety of the water in the Gulf.

All told, this kinda sounds like some sick version of a game show where people must estimate the financial worth of their life. For further information about the reparations from a  fisherman’s perspective, check this link at American Zombie, who discusses these details with a fisherman who attended one of Feinberg’s meetings.

Again, nothing appears as it seems in the Gulf…what, me worry?

Read the article from Crooks and Liars:

BP Hasn’t Put Money in Liability Account Yet

Have a nice day.