Florida Victims Of BP Oil Spill Are Still Hurting

Posted in BP British Petroleum,Deepwater Horizon,Environment,Florida Maritime News on July 14, 2011

PENSACOLA, FL – It is 15 months after the devastating Gulf oil spill that occurred April 20, 2010 as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and Florida residents are still hurting economically.

Florida’s top agriculture official, Adam Putnam, said that an untold number of residents whose livelihoods were disrupted have not yet been compensated by BP.

Last week BP Oil Company filed a 29-page report with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which stated that victims of the Gulf oil spill should not be paid on claims for future losses because the areas affected by the spill have recovered. The Gulf Coast Claims Facility is in charge of administering a $20 billion fund for victims set up by BP.

Insurance Journal reports:

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, along with some Panhandle business owners and fishermen affected by the massive spill, testified at a U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship hearing in Pensacola on Monday. U.S. Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., requested the hearing to be updated on the long term effects on those affected most by the spill that resulted from a blowout of a wellhead on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010.

“Our fishermen and their corresponding businesses–  charter boats, restaurants, hotels, seafood distributors and processors– all continue to suffer,” Putnam testified, noting a widespread public skepticism about the safety of seafood taken from Gulf waters.

Putnam told the panel that a survey completed just last month revealed that more than three of five people remain skeptical about the safety of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico despite laboratory tests that show nearly 90 percent of the samples show no trace of an oil contaminant.

“We have witnessed repeated inexplicable delays,” Putnam said. “This area remains extremely problematic.”

Senator Marco Rubio said the British oil giant simply failed to hire enough qualified people to handle claims and that he’ll look into that further when he returns to Washington.