In the words of Jeff O’Bryant, a restaurant manager from Miramar Beach Florida, “I received $14,000 in emergency payments and have been offered a measly $7,500 as a final payout. That is supposed to cover losses through 2013? Our losses have cut deep and will be felt for a long time. The $7,500 will cover taxes and a mortgage payment. This won’t nearly be enough … Continue reading Final Payment Averages Going Down…
Spring Break is coming… That annual rite of passage where drunken teens descend upon the beaches to get a rest from their studies and are often side by side with families, also on vacation from the thawing but still cold North is almost here, and all along the Gulf Coast, resorts and towns who typically make a great deal of money from this annual retreat … Continue reading The Amity Choice…
A couple of days ago I wrote a bit about how Ken Feinberg’s credibility is a thing of the past. In fact, his credibility began eroding just a few weeks into his tenure as the neutral arbitrator of British Petroleum’s compensation fund when his initial promises of EAP claims being paid for individuals within 48 hours and business inside of a week quickly fell through. … Continue reading Promises, promises, promises…
Ken, Ken, Ken… Mr. Feinberg? Can I call you Ken? I feel that since I’ve been writing about you so much these past few months that I’ve almost gotten to know you, not in that best friends at summer camp kind of way, but more like a co-worker, a co-worker I don’t care for very much. You know, that person in the office who you … Continue reading It’s (still) the transparency, stupid…
Why am I still hearing public relations ads for British Petroleum on my car radio in the morning? Deep southern drawls from the one shrimper who is able to get a reportedly decent catch…it’s all good, didn’t you hear? Answer: Because I’m unwilling to wreck my car to make it stop, unlike my television which I broke months ago… Have a nice day. Continue reading Question…
In the past two weeks, Ken Feinberg and the GCCF have made 8100 final payment offers to claimants on the Gulf Coast. So far, only 2.5% of them have been accepted, though claimants have 90 days to decide. That’s about 200 people out of 8100 accepting these offers. Why? Perhaps it might have something to do with the average amount of the offers so far … Continue reading Ken Feinberg sued and so far, turned down
In a word? Climate. I’m not talking about environmental climate change, I’m talking about the political climate, the deregulation climate, the climate that continues to sweep through this country and threatens you, the American citizen at your door with not a polite knock, it’s more akin to home invasion, battering rams that splinter the wood with its force until the whole thing smashes in and … Continue reading What does Wisconsin have to do with the Gulf Coast?
When US District Court Judge Carl Barbier issued his ruling which declared Feinberg and the GCCF were not independent of British Petroleum, but more of a related hybrid entity, he requested all parties involved file briefs for his consideration in making a future ruling on whether the oil claims process follows the law. And the briefs came. And when they came, the sides were revealed. … Continue reading BP, Feinberg and the Federal Government against the Gulf Coast…
When Feinberg first proposed the methodology for interim and final payments he clearly made everyone unhappy. Even BP weighed in with their dislike of his payment system as far too generous, and while their now apparent total disregard for their public relations department can be summarily dismissed, the people who matter here, namely the people injured by this spill, well, they were equally unimpressed. A … Continue reading Feinberg’s revised rules: the good and the bad…
Ken Feinberg believes the Gulf of Mexico will be recovered by 2012. British Petroleum disputes this time-table as being too lengthy. A new study released by the University of Georgia however, reveals Feinberg and BP may both be inhaling far too many fumes from their vanishing oil. At a science conference in Washington Saturday, marine scientist Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia showed the results of … Continue reading Hey Ken? The oil’s still there…
Drake Toulouse: Photography and Words 