AG: State Would Back Fed Charges Against BP; CFO Mad Over BP Payments

June 8, 2010

The state would be prepared to join any action – including criminal charges – needed to ensure that BP takes full financial responsibility for the effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Attorney General Bill McCollum said Monday during a tour of affected areas on Monday.

And Florida CFO Alex Sink renewed her call Monday that the federal government take over the handling of lost income claims processing from BP, in light of numerous reports that many affected business owners have only been offered payments of up to $5,000 to compensate for lost income.

“If federal charges are filed I can assure you that we will join the federal government in bringing them,” McCollum said during a stop in Pensacola Beach.

But of more immediate importance is easing bureaucratic red tape that seems to be making it harder for local officials to prepare for and deal with the effects of the spill, McCollum said.

Among his biggest frustrations is the disaster’s command structure that routes all decisions through a central command in Mobile, Ala. Such a bureaucratic bottleneck is keeping needed assets from the field. BP is driving the response – and blocking some efforts, particularly by volunteers, to clean up. One concern is liability, but it’s slowing down the response, McCollum and other officials said.

“Why don’t we have activity here in real serious way?” McCollum asked. “Why isn’t the Coast Guard being given some authority to make on-site decisions here?”

McCollum said he was angered by the company’s apparent unwillingness so far to use volunteers or innovative techniques and products to combat the spill while spending hefty sums to protect its image.

“BP has just spent $50 million on national PR advertising to make their company look good,” McCollum said. “I know they are paying all their claims, but they could certainly be spending that $50 million on some of this experimental technology.”

Escambia County Commission Chairman Grover Robinson told reporters that local residents were prepared to help clean up – and in some cases had good ideas – or were asking how they could help, but weren’t getting any response from BP.

Local officials and McCollum have also decried how long it has taken to get certain equipment, such as skimmer boats, in place.

Meanwhile, CFO Sink also attacked BP while speaking in Pensacola.

“I’m incensed that BP is devoting resources to an expensive ad campaign touting how quickly they’re writing checks, because payments of $5,000 or less amount to nothing more than a PR ploy,” said CFO Alex Sink. “These payments are little more than “bait money” for many of these businesses, and don’t even come close to what they are actually losing. BP needs to start putting its money where its oil is and start writing bigger checks today. Clearly, as I suggested weeks ago, the federal government should take over this process immediately and just send BP the bill.”

Michael Peltier of The News Service Florida contributed to this report.

Comments

2 Responses to “AG: State Would Back Fed Charges Against BP; CFO Mad Over BP Payments”

  1. L. Laird on June 9th, 2010 12:58 pm

    McCollum said. “I know they are paying all their claims: Is that not nice of our AG, since BP Has NOT paid ANY of the 3 plus MILLION $$$$ Escambia has spent on this Spill, that AG McCullom and Congressman Miller were for Drilling off the beach’s of Escambia County.. AG McCullom wasted NO Time filing a law suit in Fed Count to STOP Health Care For all the Citizens of Florida,,BUT of course, BP is McCullom friend and backer;; President Obama is NOT…

  2. David Huie Green on June 9th, 2010 12:37 pm

    REGARDING:
    “. . . including criminal charges – needed to ensure that BP takes full financial responsibility for the effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Attorney General Bill McCollum said . . . ”

    Y’ gotta love politicians. So far I haven’t heard of BP doing other than taking “full financial responsibility” but our Attorney General wants to make sure the voters know he intends to make certain they actually do.

    Imagine telling everybody who walked into a bank that you would take any necessary action, including criminal charges if they decided to rob the bank. More than half of them had no intention of robbing the bank in the first place but it makes the AG look tough. We want tough prosecutors to protect us from bank robbers and major polluters.

    AND

    “BP has just spent $50 million on national PR advertising to make their company look good,” McCollum said. “I know they are paying all their claims, but they could certainly be spending that $50 million on some of this experimental technology.”

    They’ve spent over a billion dollars on this big mess–and counting, but he acts like a particular amount spent in one place meant no other money was spent somewhere else. That’s like saying money spent prosecuting burglaries could have been spent better prosecuting murderers, when actually both were prosecuted.

    But, we’re in that part of the election cycle and they have to look good for us voters. I hope they are more serious about their jobs the rest of the time.

    David not planning on robbing banks while
    spending money on both electricity and food

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News