Yesterday, Gov. Crist held an Oil Spill Economic Recovery Task Force Meeting at the University of West Florida. According to reports I received from the meeting, BP was there in full force. BP VP of Resources Darryl “What you talkin’ about” Willis made a presentation on the claims process.
After Willis spoke, a public forum was scheduled for the task force to hear what local governments, businesses and individuals have been experiencing with the BP claims process.
All the BP officials walked out as soon as Willis finished. No one, not even the BP “community liaisons,” stayed to hear what the public had to say and to respond to their comments. No one.
Escambia County Commissioner Grover Robinson was flabbergasted by the walk-out. “All Willis did was blame others for the claims problems,” said Robinson. “The public had a completely different story than the BP one.”
I asked Robinson about the state’s response to the BP leaving in mass. He said that he thought the organizers were embarrassed, but the state doesn’t ever seem to press BP and lets them do whatever they want.
Robinson did share that the Santa Rosa Island Authority got the same form letter from ESIS, the BP contractor handling claims, requesting a phone number before the SRIA claim could be processed.
Here is the BP pattern:…Give a nice speech….facts don’t match….Apologize and say it will be fixed….nothing happens or it gets worse…give a nice speech….facts don’t match…
It’s time for the IN to start attending the press conferences again.