Louisiana: BP Will Fight Compensation Payments for Gulf Oil Spill


B. McPherson
BP will fight people made sick by corexit.

The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill is still having health and economic repercussions in the US South. February 25, BP will enter a courtroom in New Orleans to determine who was at fault for the massive pollution of the Gulf of Mexico when the Macondo Well blew out. Those who were adversely affected by the spill but excluded from the original group that received compensation for damages will have to prove that they suffered harm from the oil spill.

Oil industry people who had to suspend operations while the well spewed oil into the water are claiming damages as well as those who were servicing and building drill platforms are claiming in the millions of dollars. Municipalities and state governments were not covered in the original compensation accord. 

The BP spokesperson has let it out that the cities and state governments actually benefitted from the spill with all the workers and materials brought into the area for cleanup. They claim that they can prove this with tax records.

Economic hardship cases will have a hard time too. Restaurateurs in a wide area suffered big economic losses as their businesses were shut down when the Gulf fisheries were closed. When they reopened they were hit with the double whammy of higher prices and fewer customers.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of this massive pollution of the Gulf is those whose health has been irreversibly damaged. Those who helped clean up and breathed the volatile chemicals have damaged lungs and other organs. A Louisiana doctor, Michael Robichaux, says it plainly.

“I’m treating patients with chronic illnesses that will affect them for the rest of their lives, and they’re not even included in what was negotiated with BP,” Robichaux said. “These patients and their injuries are screwed, and that’s the nicest thing I can say about it.” Bloomberg News
Remember Tony Hayward, former head of BP? He was the voice of the uncaring oil behemoth. He has surfaced again in a Turkish/Iraqi venture to explore for and exploit oil in Northern Iraq. He has gathered some colourful characters to work with.

It has also been run, up until now, by a colourful and controversial boss, Mehmet Sepil – who was fined £1m for insider dealing by the FSA City watchdog last year – and partly owned by another Turkish businessman, Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, who is currently appealing against an 11-year jail sentence for embezzlement.  Guardian UK
And no one can speak for the whales, the tuna, dolphins, sea stars, plankton ……

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