Independent News‘BP Disaster’ Archives
BP Filing Flurry
There have been several legal filings lately regarding the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP wants evidence from the feds. An ex-NASA engineer wants money. And the region’s Asian American population doesn’t want to be discriminated against. Last week in a filing in U.S. district court [...]
RESTORE Act Dropped
The RESTORE Act is adrift again. While lawmakers had attach the act to a failed transportation bill, the House this week decided to pass a temporary transportation bill sans RESTORE. Introduced last year, the act was drafted in an effort to direct fine money resulting from BP’s Gulf of Mexico [...]
Another Deep Water Deepwater?
For nearly a week, workers have scrambled to stop a gas leak at a drilling platform in the North Sea’s Elgin field. The scene has similarities to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “It’s a similar situation in that it’s not something that can easily be controlled,” said Jackie [...]
My Florida Voices column gains momentum
Check out my latest column for Florida Voices. Please tweet and "like" it on Facebook. Thanks http://www.floridavoices.com/columns/rick-outzen/bp-settles-pardon-my-laughter BP Settles? Pardon My Laughter By Rick Outzen Florida Voices BP says its proposed $7.8 billion settlement will [...]
Surveying the Spill
What was the impact of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Escambia County? How did it impact residents and businesses? What were the losses, both tangible and emotional? Kelcey Killingsworth, a graduate student at the University of Florida, wants to know. As part of her dissertation, the grad [...]
Gulf Coast Claims Facility shutting down
The Gulf Coast Claims Facility, the BP contractor that handles the claims from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, has announced on its website that if the settlement is completed and approved by the Court, there will be a new settlement claims center to replace the GCCF. Kenneth Feinberg and Feinberg [...]
Florida counties unite for RESTORE Act
This week, a coalition of Gulf Coast counties coordinated by the Florida Association of Counties released a web video stressing the importance of ensuring any fines collected due to the DeepWater Horizon Oil Spill are distributed to those states and counties directly impacted from this tragedy.
Buzz: BP settlement talks stalled
Despite what the Wall Street Journal is reporting, my sources in New Orleans are telling me that the settlement talks between the BP lawyers and the plaintiffs' attorneys have stalled. It appears BP is leaking info to the media to put pressure on the victims' lawyers to reach an agreement before [...]
Buzz: BP settlement could be $14 billion
The Wall St. Journal is reporting that BP and the lawyers for those hurt by the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill are discussing a possible $14 billion settlement, which will be paid out of the $20 billion fund the oil giant set up for its Gulf Coast Claims Facility. BP still faces [...]
Gulf Coast Restoration Network responds to BP trial delay
Press Release: It's unfortunate that the public's chance to understand what went wrong and who is to blame for the worst off-shore oil disaster in history has been delayed. This trial holds the promise of finally determining that BP and their partners were grossly negligent in the events [...]
House passes RESTORE Act —Kudos to Jeff Miller
The Times-Picayune is reporting that the House gave voice vote approval to an amendment that would dedicate 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the 2010 BP oil spill to a new Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund. The vote was a key victory for supporters of using the fine money to finance [...]
Restored?
In an effort to pass the RESTORE Act—which would assure that 80 percent of the fines incurred as a result of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico would stay in the Gulf Coast region—legislators are planning to tack the proposal onto a transportation bill. According to Dan McFaul, Rep. [...]