What happened to BP will make everyone whole. We will pay above and beyond your documented losses. Feinberg has no idea what the future holds for the gulf coast.Maybe a scientist can estimate oyster regrowth, but he needs a crystal ball to know whether tropical storms or hurricanes will devistate this area again and again. This is a slap in the face to individuals and business owners. Almost extortion. I am not accepting any final payout, I will take interums and go class action. Feinberg and BP cannot hide the fact that they are in this together. We the people of the gulf coast were not born yesterday.

With all due respect Mr Foehrkolb and with all due sympathy’s to your terrible situation that BP is 100% responsible for . It is not needed for feinberg to guess at Hurricanes and tropical storms. These things are not BPs fault and they wouldn’t be liable for them , unless you are worried about the oil they will drag ashore in which case you are again 100% correct, I just wanted to point that out to you :)

Just now coming to the light….....

Wednesday, February 2, 2011 NEW ORLEANS— A federal judge says the embattled administrator of the $20 billion compensation fund for Gulf oil spill victims is not independent from BP and he must stop telling potential claimants that he is.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said in a ruling late Wednesday that he is ordering BP, claims czar Ken Feinberg and any of their agents to change the way they communicate with people seeking money from the fund.

Barbier says Feinberg must clearly disclose in all communications that he is acting for and on behalf of BP in fulfilling its obligations as the responsible party under the Oil Pollution Act.

Barbier stopped short of ordering changes to a release form people who accept final payments from the fund must sign. He asked lawyers to submit additional briefs to the court.

Posted to the GCCF site by me

Nice to hear want we already knew that GCCF is just a agent/lawyer for BP.  So of course the out would be structured for 3 years.  Another marine expert, James Cowan, a biological oceanographer at Louisiana State University, said the report “suffers from way too much lumping,” by which he meant lumping together so many species that significant impact on some species might be glossed over.
“The question is, does it affect a small number of species more directly and indirectly — and that’s the part that’s missing,” he said.
Dr. Tunnell acknowledged Dr. MacDonald’s criticisms, saying, “Yes, Ian is correct. It is an opinion.” But he added that his report was based on a thorough review of the data available at this point.
So if your own expert thinks that it will be years for diffrent types of ocean creatures. How can you select 3 years.  So since I lost my job and the company that I was working for went out of business how is it that all of a sudden. I guess that business will restart and be there just because 3 years are up. Hell even the Obama redid unemployment for a longer period of time.
Page is Wrong on it face because u can not do 2x lost wages for 2010 because that covers only that year 2011 would be a full year at 44,000 that you would lose so it should have been using the GCCF math 44,000 x 2 = 88,000- 14 for the Actual wages received which should be 74,000. That makes the 60,000 GCCF uses 14,000 less that you and I would have made if the spill did not happen
A for the interim payment would it not be right that payments would be equal to ¼ of the total wages for the year. Exp $44,000 / 4 = 11,000 each 3 months.  On page two of the exhibit {A} it should have been lost wages starting at $44,000 which would have been the projected wages for the full year off 2011. It should not be tied to the Final Claim amount because person may not take that final claim and chose to sue.

So and for final it would be been $44,000 x2 {so they are still trying to short change us for 14,000} in GCCF own method. BP Promised compensation “BP’s solemn promise that all who suffered economic damage would be made whole” not force a amount on them below that

BP=Bullsh** Personified.  You are right Mark, anyone with a valid claim and still losing money file for the interum and then get a lawyer and in FL you can add your attorney fees to the top NOT have them deducted out of your settlement.  Feinburg is a total scammer, working for bp to give out as little as possible, basically it’s 2 years, oh yeah then everything will be all better!!  He and bp will be richer and us Gulf Coast Folks (ie:  the little people) will be out of business.  Be sure to check the footnotes of that “scientific analysis”  Dr Tunnell and his group were PAID by bp twice total:  9 MILLION.  How’s that for fair and balanced reporting, they are laughing all the way to the bank!

i think it’s 2 times losses for 2010.  that’s just one year of payment.  the 2 times is for what they told me: ‘pain & suffering’.  anyway, does anyone know why these payments are being taxed?  they are actually a damage award.  when you get hurt at work and you sue, you get lost wages and punitive damages.  neither are taxed, so why is this award going to be taxed.  the IRS can’t just create a new law to tax these payments when there are other awards that are not taxed.  they are just trying to hose us…it’s criminal!

i agree with Mark…interim payments and then class action…i have not worked since August…and am not getting called back because they have jamaican j1s on the way…so no work for locals in gulf shores and orange beach.  btw, all the beach cleaning equipment is gone from our beaches….the beaches are clean, y’all!  don’t think so.

Punitive damages are taxable.

This money is taking place of your lost earnings that you would have paid taxes on. Therefore it is also taxable.

i have been researching and i can’t find any punitive damages that were taxable.

I’m a CPA, visit the IRS website to confirm.

Compensatory damages are not taxable. That would be like if you lost your leg/house/car and they paid you what it was worth. They compensated you for your loss of property which would not be taxable.

However most all GCCF claims are for a loss of income, which is taxable, so all proceeds received are therefore taxable in the year received.

Christine you are wrong in assuming that the equation of adverse weather is not a calculation used in determining insurance rates for business and events in the Gulf coast communities.
Although the GCCF & the justifiably maligned administrator obviously do not control the weather, the oil resting upon the ocean floor is property of his employer BP. Should a cat 4 or greater hurricane affect the area, the dispersant laden crude could be pushed further inland possibly even into the north western intrusion zone of the pure water Florida aquifer.
Weather has a cyclical pattern and percentages can be placed upon the probability of an adverse event affecting any given section of the GOM.

Unfortunately the GCCF offers only the best case scenario in an attempt to short change claim holders and keep BP from paying a realistic compensation.

Finally,  there should be no taxes pay upon damage recovery.

Whether a hurricane pushing water on shore or not, BP will not pay for the damages to home etc.  I can see their defends now, “IT WAS AN ACT OF GOD” There were several boats and even eighteen wheelers that floated and hit my home during hurrican Katrina and I could not sue becasue it was the “ACT OF GOD”

Bottom line, the hurricane issue will be thrown out the door in relations to the oil spill.

molly
one obvious difference is the boats, eighteen wheelers etc,  that did damage due to a Hurricane, little preparation could take place to mitigate the damage, beyond acting as a reasonable citizen. In the case of BP there is overwhelming evidence that the oil has settled upon the sea floor of the GOM.

The question would then be did BP study the problem, and after the study did they explore a remedy that could be used to lessen the likelihood of their oil adversely affecting the area in the aftermath of a hurricane? Or did the study show any action that might be taken proved to be either too costly, offered only marginal effectiveness, or both.

If an honest effort is made to seek a remedy and none is realistic then I would agree that BP should not be responsible for damaged in connection with an intrusion of the genetically tagged Deep Water Horizon oil. BP could be protected in this case just by the fact a study was undertaken or is scheduled to be funded.

This is not something that is beyond the SOP of an energy company that finds itself facing unique challenges in the wake of mismanagement of a production facility.

Unfortunately the GCCF could use the issue of potential hurricanes to limit the payout to claim holders.

Remember it is business 101 that money earned and paid today is worth considerable less if paid 6 months to a year later.

One last thing about the ACT OF GOD defense, both parties and the court must agree that an act of God has occurred. The Vatican would argue that the weather although a mysterious occurrence is not under the direct control of a merciful God, as is evident in the ability to predict the weather through the use of meteorological science.

Or, for all believers in the omnipotence of God, everything is an act of God.

Having suffered the “Act of God” insurance clause myself.  I think it’s ridiculous.  Why even buy insurance if everything is an “Act of God.”

I believe more in the “Free Will” concept.  I freely built my home near a coast, I freely bought insurance, and the insurance company should then freely pay the claim.

BP freely profited for decades by drilling for oil, knowing the risk, and pushing the limits on profits and therefore should freely be willing to pay the consequences.

As far as hurricanes, I don’t believe these are an “act of God” as he gave mother nature “free will” to continue on -  in response to how we pollute the environment, have too many kids, or cut down too many trees.  Our earth will be a product of our “free will.”

Yet I still pray to God for his mercy and grace.

these claims should not be taxable if you are already not working thanks to bp if you pay a crap ton of taxes on this how the hell are we ever going to get ahead and for this methodology it is a bunch of BS my income was down by 8000 dollars in 2010 and they are using that for an example bull how is that fair at all they should at least go 4 times out for everyone or take the advance payment and offer 3 times what they gave you so if you got for example 20.000 offer 60.000 and then take out the 20.000 they gave you minus say you made 10.000 and then at least you would have a fair offer and they should have went at least 10.000 and 25.000 on the quick claim 5.000 is not enough to pay regular bills for two months they need to fire this idiot he is a politician for god sakes did they think he would really be fair to anyone but bp and do not even worry about a hurricane here they will put that off on fema go figure this is where obama should say pay more or you are fired after all if we have a hurricane the government will be forced to foot the bill not bp in this case it would be their fault if the oil washes in again

Judge Asks BP Why Some Oil-Spill Claimants Are Not Getting Answers
By SABRINA CANFIELD
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    NEW ORLEANS (CN) - During an oil spill status conference Friday, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier told a BP attorney he had heard complaints that people are not getting answers about claims they submitted through the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which is overseen by BP-appointed claims administrator Kenneth Feinberg. BP attorney Don Haycraft assured the judge that Feinberg has said that claims protocols will “expand and improve.”
    “Is there a time frame for people to be told: ‘Yes, you are getting paid,’ or, ‘No, you are not getting paid’?” Barbier asked Haycraft.
    Haycraft said that Congress had asked Feinberg that very question just the day before, and testified that “claims protocols are going to continue to expand and improve.”
    Haycraft said that 470,943 claims have been filed through the Gulf Coast Claims Facility: 395,000 from individuals, and 85,870 from businesses. He said claimants have been paid $3.3 billion.
    Haycraft said he thought most claims that have been denied were denied because claimants lacked complete documentation. He added that the number of claims denied for insufficient documentation has decreased since the last status conference.
    Judge Barbier said the complaints he has heard don’t have to do so much with denied claims as with claimants simply not getting answers.
    Barbier said again that he wondered about a timeframe during which claimants could expect to hear back from Feinberg.
    Haycraft responded: “I read the newspaper as well, and from what I understand, thousands of people are being paid.”
    During a closed meeting Friday with a select audience in St. Bernard Parish, just outside New Orleans, , Feinberg reportedly “he has become accustomed to ‘walking into the lion’s den’” when he holds public meetings, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
    Public meetings with Feinberg in Louisiana at the beginning of January devolved into angry criticism from frustrated people who say they are not being paid through the claims process.
    A frequent criticism of the Feinberg-administered claims process is that people on the periphery of the group hardest hit by the oil spill, such as waiters and bartenders, are being paid, while fishermen continue to wait for checks from BP.
    Feinberg told the Homeland Security Committee’s Disaster Recovery Subcommittee in Washington on Thursday that he would post his claims facility’s new methodologies for calculating interim and final payments by Tuesday.
    The claims process was established, in part, for those who would rather not litigate.
    Texas attorney Tony Buzbee, who is overseeing 15,000 oil-spill cases, said in a statement Friday that he has met with Feinberg repeatedly and expects to resolve a significant number of his cases this week.
    Buzbee said he believes Feinberg and his claims process should be given a chance to work.
    “If it doesn’t, we will litigate,” Buzbee said.
    BP attorney Andrew Langan Friday told the court there are about 349 active cases before Judge Barbier in New Orleans Federal Court.
    But Barbier said that number is “a bit deceiving.” He said there are hundreds of cases, but thousands of claims.
    By filing a short-form joinder, people can join the litigation whether they have an attorney or not, the judge said.
    Judge Barbier was chosen in August to oversee the bulk of oil spill claims in New Orleans Federal Court as part of a consolidated multi-district litigation.
    The next status conference is set for Feb. 25 at 9:30 am.

The Harte Research Institute report did not include the affects of using the highly toxic corexit dispersant in quantities far beyond nay ever experienced in any water of marsh & beach environments.
There are other holes in the report, but that ios one that can not be overlooked. The native oil is far less toxic than corexit.

Corexit 9527, considered by the EPA to be an acute health hazard, is stated by its manufacturer to be potentially harmful to red blood cells, the kidneys and the liver, and may irritate eyes and skin.[15][24] The chemical 2-butoxyethanol, found in Corexit 9527, was identified as having caused lasting health problems in workers involved in the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.[25] According to the Alaska Community Action on Toxics, the use of Corexit during the Exxon Valdez oil spill caused people “respiratory, nervous system, liver, kidney and blood disorders”.[17] Like 9527, 9500 can cause hemolysis (rupture of blood cells) and may also cause internal bleeding.[5]
According to the EPA, Corexit is more toxic than dispersants made by several competitors and less effective in handling southern Louisiana crude.[26] On May 20, 2010, the EPA ordered BP to look for less toxic alternatives to Corexit, and later ordered BP to stop spraying dispersants, but BP responded that it thought that Corexit was the best alternative and continued to spray it.[4]
Reportedly Corexit may be toxic to marine life and helps keep spilled oil submerged. There is concern that the quantities used in the Gulf will create ‘unprecedented underwater damage to organisms.’[27] Nalco spokesman Charlie Pajor said that oil mixed with Corexit is “more toxic to marine life, but less toxic to life along the shore and animals at the surface” because the dispersant allows the oil to stay submerged below the surface of the water.[28] Corexit 9500 causes oil to form into small droplets in the water; fish may be harmed when they eat these droplets.[5] According to its Material safety data sheet, Corexit may also bioaccumulate, remaining in the flesh and building up over time.[29] Thus predators who eat smaller fish with the toxin in their systems may end up with much higher levels in their flesh.[5]
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Feinberg made this comment today to a reporter,“Once he has completed the public input process (which ends next week) on his drafted modifications to the claims process, then the public should see improvements.”

So he is planning on bettering the claim payment methodology.

cool he needs to improve every thing and he needs to do it faster than next week what he should do is take any amount you received as an emergency payment and just triple it and only take out what they gave you and then every one would get a fair amount and be done with it he would have way less law suits in the end

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On January 21st I received the same letter. It took me almost a month to received a one month EAP of $2000 and 2months to be denied supplemental claim. I was told that I was eligible for Quick Payment and just to keep from going through more hell I submitted my application on December 20th. January 21st I received this letter and have not been able to get any information since. I was told that the investigation could go on for a very long time. I asked it if was for fraud and was told that I was randomly pulled for audit. I don’t understand and have not been contacted by Guidepost and do not have any other way of finding out what is going on and why they pulled my claim. Is this going to be norm when it comes to interim and final claims being approved and paid. How is it legal that they can hold your claim up by using Guidepost to investigate you without giving you any information on why and how long it will take??

Bye Bye Bivalve: Wild Oysters Could Go Extinct
February 9, 2011 at 8:30AM by Justine Sterling

This Monday, lovers will find their Valentine’s Day menus full of fondues, caviar, chocolates and other seductive dishes they may notice one of the most popular romantic menu items has gone missing: the scrumptious, briny, plump, juicy, and now endangered, wild oyster.

Harken back to a time long gone when the Romans ruled the world and oysters were so plentiful that through their filtering the English Channel was kept crystal clear. Cut to the late Victorian era when they were so abundant that they were considered a staple food for the working class. Quick cut to modern day where a team of researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz has examined 144 locations in 40 regions around the world where the luxurious bivalves once thrived. The study found that generally conditions were poor for the many species - so poor that the team deemed wild oysters to be functionally extinct, which means they no longer play a significant role in the ecosystem. Their role is not just to be delicious or to act as an aphrodisiac, but also to filter impurities from the water, as mentioned above. This filtering helps keep fish populations healthy and helps prevent coastal erosion.

Oysters are fast disappearing as 85 percent of the reefs that they inhabit have been destroyed by disease and over-harvesting.

The oil spill seems to be the straw that broke the wild oyster population’s back. The Gulf of Mexico was one of the last places in the world where wild oysters were at high populations levels. The oil spill destroyed nearly half of the reefs. Dr Michael Beck, the leader of the study, predicts that if nothing is done to help the wild oysters they could be gone within a generation. It would not be the first time wild oysters disappeared completely from a region. The wild oyster population in Greece and Colombia was wiped out in the 1990s by unmanaged harvesting, which ruined the reefs.

The researchers recommend ratcheting up efforts in reef conservation, fisheries management and controlling the spread of non-native shellfish.

A quick note to end a doomsday post: the Chesapeake Bay has seen a bumper crop of baby oysters, which had previously been in a stranglehold of disease. The population is at its highest level since 1997 and survival rate is up. Though this hopeful situation was brought about mostly by favorable weather, which is unreliable, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has put in place a plan that has increased Maryland’s oyster sanctuaries and has put money towards better sustainable fishery management.

(And drillling isn’t allowed of their coast, so how will we be compensated for this loss?)

http://restaurant-hospitality.com/news/bp-oilspill-0910/
very ineressting read..since nobody else is posting.

restaurant-hospitality.com/news/bp-oilspill-0910/

draketoulouse.com/

When Judge Barbier of the US District Court ordered Feinberg last week to finally, start being honest with people and stop referring to himself and the GCCF as neutral or independent of British Petroleum, he opened a very significant door.

And today is the day to kick that door down.

Barbier has asked attorneys to file briefs on the claim fund’s compliance with the Oil Pollution Act and among the items that could be settled is the legality of the no-sue clause.

86,000 claimants have waived their and their family’s right to sue British Petroleum and a hundred other companies for the damage incurred by the oil spill. Attorneys argue this was done by many under financial duress. Some might even argue the whole process has been one big game of coercion.

When Feinberg’s GCCF couldn’t follow through on their own timetables, leaving people in financial limbo as they waited for compensation from the fund, all the while their bills continued to pile up, their mortgages came due and BP started canceling cleanup contracts while their pre-spill jobs were still unavailable…well, of course many people on the Gulf Coast were feeling the financial punch, not to mention the many people who settled for quick pays simply because they’d had it with the GCCF’s arbitrary changes in the rules, their delay tactics and the varying answers from each and every GCCF adjuster…even if accepting a quick pay was to their own disadvantage.

A ruling from Barbier could open the whole thing up again for the people who should desire to get back into the fray, get a lawyer and try to get what they deserve. And really, Feinberg has nobody to blame for this but himself and his own incompetence in the way he handled the escrow account, a method which left one law professor from Hofstra University to say Feinberg acted “misleadingly, at best.”

British Petroleum, in an e-mailed statement about the February 11th deadline to file briefs said: “We do not believe that there is any basis to undo or challenge the settlements that have been concluded.”

Kevin Feinberg, when contacted said: chirp…chirp…chirp…chirp…chirp…

Kevin Dean, an attorney with the Plaintiff’s firm Montley Rice said: “My firm believes that clients were forced financially to take an ill-advised settlement, and that that’s a violation of the Oil Pollution Act.”

So, today’s the day, and now that Judge Barbier has taken over jurisdiction of the Claims Process, let’s see what he has to say…

Have a nice day.

Hey all,

If you’re under investigation by Guidepost Soltions after filing your quick pay, the media wants to hear about it:

Check out

http://draketoulouse.com/2011/02/12/being-investigated-by-guidepost-solutions-and-the-gccf-the-media-is-listening/

Thanks,

-Drake

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The process for compensating victims of the BP oil spill has been beset by red tape and questions about its fairness and openness.

The Associated Press interviewed legal experts, government officials and more than 300 Gulf Coast residents and heard numerous complaints — many of them about Kenneth Feinberg. He is the man picked by President Barack Obama to administer the $20 billion compensation fund.

Feinberg’s ties to BP have raised questions about his independence.

Now the dissatisfaction has reached a fever pitch: Lawmakers in Washington are demanding the White House step in. The Louisiana governor and others want a federal judge to intervene. And many of the people most affected by the disaster are threatening to go to court.

so any word??? everyone’s beeen quiet past few days..

WAITING TILL THE 17TH… THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO LET US KNOW APPROVED OR DENIED….

i have by no means been quiet i have been blowing up the comment section of the gccf and this wait has been long enough and to say they are going to pay 2 years of losses i did receive a eap after 3 months of filing but i will not except a low ball payment i will see them in court and what feinberg did to the florida house rep yesterday was un called for now i think obama needs to do his job and fire this idiot he is getting paid 850000 dollars a month for what 3 months ago he should have started to pay the final claims i am so over it i think i will go get a lawyer today

Some interesting articles for those that have not seen them:

http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/article/surprise-visit-to-claims-office-in-dublin-oh/1204758/Feb-14-2011_6-42-pm/

http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/gulf_oil_spill/house-rep-visits-central-claims-office#viewSingle111592437

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/11/AR2011021106414.html

http://www.louisianarecord.com/news/233340-becnel-challenges-barbiers-authority-over-gccf

New information on where and who is determining claim payments was discovered Monday when Florida House Representative Doug Broxson was turned away from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) headquarters in Dublin, Ohio.

Broxson said he made arrangements to visit the GCCF headquarters, but when he arrived he wasn’t allowed inside. Not only was he told to leave the premises, he got a personal phone call from the claims administrator himself.

“It kind of went downhill from there. I mean we know that they have 800 people working there. They are not claims adjusters, they are intake and clerical people. We just had a pretty brutal discussion about if this is not the claims office then where is it? Who makes the decisions? Then Mr. Feinberg got on the phone and he said, ‘Well we make all the decisions in Washington DC,’ and I said on 500,000 claims five people make a decision? And he said, well indirectly, ‘We make all the decisions,’” Broxson said.

After finding out that 800 clerical jobs are being offered over a thousand miles away from the impact zone here on the Gulf Coast Broxson said it doesn’t make sense.

“I don’t understand why we don’t have those jobs here on the Gulf Coast, it makes no sense. These are not claims people, they are not adjusters, they are just regular citizens like you and I that are looking for income, and they chose to put it in Ohio 1,000 miles from where the impact zone is on the Gulf Coast. It makes no sense,” added Broxson.

Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon was supposed to go on the trip as well. He said he’s disappointed with the lack of transparency.

“They wonder why there is so much fraud and abuse and wondering why we are screaming. Why the individuals who deserve it are not getting paid,” Kennon said.

Kennon said he was disappointed in Feinberg.

“We assumed that there was a huge army of forensic accounts and CPA’s in Dublin just working through all of the claims as fast as they can and it’s not the case. Its really laughable what we are hearing and what we are seeing,” Kennon said.

Broxson says Feinberg did hint at at least one positive move for the future.

“He said he is going to make a decision this week to try to loosen up the process a little more and put more authority on the Gulf Coast,” Broxson said.

Representative Broxson also told FOX10 News they found out that the GCCF has offices located in Virgina, Seattle Washington, and Washington D.C.

Until Monday, Broxson said the location of these offices was not known to anyone in his state office.

In my opinion, there is going to be alot of “DENIED” all over again.  If KF is going to actually follow the OPA standards, a lot of individuals and businesses will be denied.  Also, I notice when the GCCF updated the Protocol dated February 8th, its states, “The GCCF will only pay for harm or damage that is proximately caused by the Spill.” Did anybody else read that???

i guess i did not pay that much attention but every one go to fox 10 news in mobile alabama they show more coverage than anyone i think the congress man jo bonner is slamming the hell out of the gccf and its rep but i tell you what i had a gccf call person trying to make me take the quick claim yesterday on the phone and she talked to me like i was 2 years old or i was a stupid hillbilly i was so mad i could have choked her these people that work there are truely amazing they will not pressure me and if they dont at least tripple my eap for a final i will see them in court

A long-overlooked group of mostly Louisiana-based offshore workers will finally get their shot at some BP relief money in March.

Rusty Costanza / The Times-Picayune
Capt. Richard Garner of the Carol Chouest, a 280-foot-long, state-of-the-art supply vessel, would be one of those eligible for the first BP relief grants available to those who supplied and supported drilling rigs shuttered by last year’s moratorium.
An estimated 9,000 workers who directly supplied or supported activity on the 30 deepwater rigs that were shuttered by the government’s drilling moratorium were initially excluded from the claims and relief grant funds BP set up last summer.
These boat operators, shipyard workers who load supplies and fix equipment, workers that provide industrial chemicals and food for the rigs and diving and crew boat services will be able to apply, starting March 15, to an administrator for hardship grants of $3,000 to $30,000.
Offshore industry experts have long suspected that independent suppliers and rig-support vessel workers could be hurt more than anyone by President Barack Obama’s drilling moratorium. But they were precisely the group left out of the BP oil spill claims process and from the initial relief money offered for workers hurt by the drilling ban.
BP set aside $20 billion to cover economic losses stemming from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico or the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, as the oil giant and other responsible parties are required to pay by law. But there’s no legal requirement for BP to pay for losses from Obama’s moratorium. So, when BP agreed to create a Rig Worker Assistance Fund with $100 million, it was a donation. The oil giant tapped the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to administer the fund and initially limited it to employees who worked on the deepwater rigs.
But the rig worker fund paid out a lot less than originally anticipated. Most oil companies kept deepwater rigs under contract, and in turn rig owners kept their people employed through the five-month moratorium, meaning that the workers targeted by the BP donation were not suffering as much loss of income. The Gulf Coast Restoration & Protection Foundation, a nonprofit established to administer the rig worker fund, said more than $88 million of the $100 million is still available after grants were sent to applicants who worked on the rigs.
The foundation was expecting as many as 9,000 rig workers to apply and to spend all $100 million on financial hardship grants for them. But they got only 352 completed applications for the grants. So, only $5.3 million in grants went to 343 approved applicants, an average of just under $15,000 per recipient.
The foundation collected a $6.5 million fee from BP’s $100 million fund, mostly to pay Covington-based First Premium Insurance Group to process the applications. That left $88.2 million for a second round, to expand the hardship grants to those who worked in direct support of the shuttered rigs.
Those who were working on May 6, 2010, in direct support of a deepwater drilling rig affected by the moratorium can file applications from March 15 to May 13, either online at http://www.RigReliefGrants.org or by calling 866.577.8141.
Unlike Feinberg’s Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which compensates claimants for their spill-induced losses, the Gulf Coast Restoration & Protection Foundation is paying hardship grants, meaning the applicants must show that they can’t pay certain expenses because of losses from the moratorium.
The Offshore Marine Services Association has contended since the moment Obama imposed the moratorium on May 30, 2010, that supply and support companies—many Louisiana-based firms like Chouest, Hornbeck, Otto Candies and Bollinger Shipyards—would be hurt more by the moratorium than even the rig companies.
The rigs could go idle and stay under contract while work continued on shoreside maintenance, but the companies that relied on multiple daily trips out to the rigs to deliver heavy machinery, drilling chemicals and tools, groceries and other items would see their business dry up, OMSA argued.
Indeed, last year when rig operators steadfastly held onto their employees, supply boat and tugboat crew members saw their hours cut and salaries slashed.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said he was happy the money is becoming available to moratorium victims, but the longer-term problem is getting those eligible for the aid back to work with new drilling permits for the deepwater rigs.
“We’re eight-plus months out (from the May 30 moratorium) and there’s still a shutdown of the Gulf, and I’m all for helping people who need it, but the real reaction we need is to restart drilling activity in the Gulf,” Vitter said.
The moratorium was lifted in October, but the administration has not granted any deepwater permits because it says firms have not demonstrated that they can stifle future spills.

well now bp wants to stick there 2 cents in and say that ken lieberg needs to lower the payments they can just go straight to hell this whole mess is their fault and they are really gonna stand by this we i wont now i get a lawyer enough is enough i wont settle for any offer i need the money like every one else but it is the point of the matter lie after lie and now this why do they need to be drilling in our ocean any way go back where you came from bp and stay there if they dont make it right and make us completely whole ban them from drilling in our country

BP is just digging themselves a deeper hole.  If KF is too degenerous, then how will they explain the 10M final payment that was paid.  How generous was that???

Some reports are trying to say that BP saying that proves that BP is not controlling Feinberg!

Just another move in the continuing chess match!
BP comes out with that to counteract the endless complaints of low ball methodology and to make Feinberg look like he is not under their control.

It proves that they are playing bad cop good cop, just like the local GCCF office and the Ohio office do.  And if BP isn’t in control, how did they get the 10M payment to their Texas associate without Feinbergs involvment. Feinberg also claimed in an interview that he knew nothing about the 1 and only interim claim that was paid. BP nor Feinberg will ever be held accountable for all their BS. It’s beyond criminal, it’s down right sadistic. It wouldn’t surprise me if BP found a way to make us pay for all the free oil they gave our region.

Has anyone or know of anyone being investagated for quick pay.My husband and I are being investigated for the second time we were already investigated by U.S Department of Homeland Security and were cleared of any fraud so I can not understand why we would be getting investigated again and for a quick pay which was supposed to not require further documentation or further review. (By the way they have the last three years of taxes, check stubs and unemployment records) The Gccf lies again. Why dont they go after real criminals trying to fraud the system not familys that have been trying to hold it together since this destruction began. if anyone has any info on this please share it with me. From what I’ve read this is not an isolated inccident.

Called GCCF today, they said my claim is in review. I told them the web says received, but she said it was now under review. Holding my breath…just about out of oxygen.

charles m

Don’t hold your breath thinking it is under review.  How can it be under review with no final formula/methodology released yet.  Besides, alot of claims have been under review since November…...

So apparently there will be more documentation requested. 

This was in the Pensacola News Journal:

TALLAHASSEE—BP oil spill compensation chief Ken Feinberg told the Florida House Economic Affairs Committee this morning that he plans to bring more personnel to the Gulf Coast to more directly address the needs of those who suffered damaged from last summer’s oil spill.

He also promised that his protocol for final and interim payments would be released by the end of the day. The proposed protocol, which was open for public comment for two weeks, had not been finished by Feinberg at the time of the hearing.

“There have been major changes to the degree of specificity regarding eligibility and calculation of payments,” Feinberg told the committee. “There will be attachments showing the documentation (needed) and giving people a better understanding of what they need to have a documented claim.”

Buck Lee, the manager of the Santa Rosa Island Authority, attended the hearing. While the authority’s losses have been covered, Lee said he was there to gather information that might be helpful to businesses on Pensacola Beach. He attributes the closure of at least one business, Bullfeathers restaurant, to the spill and a lack of prompt, consistent compensation.

Lee was not impressed by what Feinberg had to say.

“I’ve heard it before,” Lee said. “She (Committee Chairwoman Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange) says she’s cautiously optimistic. I’m just cautious.”

He was happy that people will be added to the local offices of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, the agency Feinberg leads. But, Lee suspects that those people will lack the authority they need.

“The question was posed to him, ‘Are you going to move the 800 people down from Ohio, the 500 from Virgina and the 20 from D.C.’ And the answer to that was, ‘No,’” Lee said. “They’re going to add a few people to each (local office), but do they have the authority to sign off and say, ‘Yes, the check is in the mail?’ I don’t believe so.”

I watched the last half of the live stream and I’ve got to say that not enough of the right questions were asked and when they were the Chairwoman shut them down! Every time the questions got a little argumentative with Feinberg’s process she stopped them and moved on to someone else!
Also Feinberg is not only a good lawyer but a great actor as when specific instances of the local claims office making mistakes or giving different answers he acted like he knew nothing of the problems and even acted like he was aghast at the incidents in question.
And the Oscar goes to .............Kenneth Feinberg for his portrayal of someone who gives a sh!t

When Feinberg says only 15%-20% claimants have submitted complete documentation, does he mean % of the whole 490,000 claims or % of the 153,000 total that have so far filed for Full Review Final and Interim?

When Feinberg says only 15%-20% claimants have submitted complete documentation, does he mean 15-20% of the whole 490,000 claims or 15-20% of the 153,000 total that have so far filed for Full Review Final and Interim?

There are 76,000 claimants that got EAP and did not take Quick Pay. 76,000, assuming most have filed Full Review Final or Interim by now, is almost 50% of the 153,000 of the filed interim & final. 76,000 is right above 15% of 490,000.

If he is talking about 15-20% of the 153,000 (that would be roughly 28,000 claimants) then he means that 48,000 claimants that sufficiently documented to get their EAP now suddenly don’t document fully to get the final or interim? I don’t believe that for a second & I sincerely hope that he is taking about the total 490,000. And 15-20% of that figure is hard to believe.

Anyway, 15-20% did document fully - so when are the payments going out?

Why don’t officials and reporters ask the specific questions and not let them worm their way out with fluffy answers?

@lucy w
thats 15% of people filing interim or final claims or 15% of 150,000 claims.  Im sure the reason is most of the claims were filed before 1040s or 1099s for 2010 were available and claimants havent sent that updated info in to the GCCF

@al t

That could be it. He could say something to that effect, instead of making it seem that the claimants don’t cooperate. My claim is business, and the rep told me they didn’t need my tax return for 2010 to file the interim, and if I take the final offer attached to this interim, or the next, they won’t need it at all. He took P&Ls;, sales reports etc. and any bills from advertising etc. from after the spill that showed I was trying to mitigate the loss of sales. He said GCCF would reimburse for those expenses, although they say a lot of things that don’t pan out.

well how about this i have been without power for two weeks waiting for this idiot to do some thing living off a generator and i finally broke down and did the quick claim yesterday afternoon and i am fixing to be living in the street with my kids now he is going to change things feinberg you are an ignorant ass and i hope you and bp rot in hell

Oil spill claims chief announces new payment rules
(AP) – 21 minutes ago

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The administrator of BP’s $20 billion Gulf oil spill fund announced new rules Friday in the highly criticized claims process, but the central payment formula remained unchanged from a proposal released earlier this month.

Kenneth Feinberg, the Washington lawyer who oversees the fund, said in a news release that he’ll begin making payments based on the rules.

He’s been criticized about the size and pace of payments. During a speech before the rules were released, Feinberg said Friday that he took into consideration hundreds of comments he has received in recent weeks, including numerous complaints that he wasn’t distributing enough money fast enough.

However, the plan announced Friday was largely the same as the proposal Feinberg made earlier this month, before more than 1,400 claimants, public officials and others weighed in on the matter.

Under the plan, claimants would receive twice their documented 2010 losses. Oyster harvesters would be offered four times their losses. One change is that he’s allowing is for oyster processors to collect the same payment that he’s allowing oyster harvesters to claim.

“I think the process is working well. I do think I’ve heard enough about lack of transparency and lack of consistency that we have to do something about that,” Feinberg told reporters after his speech at Mississippi College School of Law, which was hosting a forum on the oil spill.

Feinberg has been under pressure to streamline the process and be more generous with payments.

Some lawmakers have demanded the White House step in and provide more oversight of the program. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and others want a federal judge to intervene in the fund, which was set up to compensate for losses from the massive oil spill caused by the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Feinberg, who was lauded for his work overseeing the compensation fund for 9/11 victims, insists he is being fair, but he said the volume of claims is immense.

There have been more claims filed in the oil spill program in one day than were filed during the entire 9/11 program, he said.

He said weeding out suspicious claims is another challenge, adding that there have been at least 8,000 suspicious claims submitted.

Feinberg said 254 claims that he denied were appealed to the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard sided with Feinberg and his Gulf Coast Claims Facility every time, he said.

“I think we’re doing something right,” he said.

Still, an Associated Press review published this week — based on interviews with legal experts, government officials and more than 300 Gulf residents — found a claims process beset by red tape and delay.

Feinberg said $3.6 billion has been paid so far on some 190,000 claims.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

OK, so the “new” methodology is now up. I see absolutely NO change from the previous. So just as we thought 2 weeks go by with no results and no change.
I still don’t see where a claim from someone who completely lost their job with no hope of getting that job back is going to be compensated.
Also the Oil workers are still automatically excluded.