Billing BP Friday, Nov 19 2010

I am on the media list for RestoretheGulf.gov which is the site set up by the Obama administration following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last April. As I realize very little news comes out about the spill anymore I thought I would share the latest email.

WASHINGTON – The Obama Administration today sent an eighth bill for $25.4 million to BP and other named responsible parties for response and recovery operations relating to the BP/Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. To date, the Administration has sent these eight bills to BP and other responsible parties (Transocean, MOEX, and Andarko) for oil removal costs, of which the first six have been reimbursed in full by BP.

Responsible parties are financially liable for all costs associated with oil removal, including efforts to stop the leak at its source, reduce the spread of oil, protect the shoreline and mitigate damage to the public health or welfare.

To provide full transparency of the ongoing efforts and to ensure that the American public is not held accountable for the costs of response activities, the Federal Government bills responsible parties regularly for costs approved by the Federal On-Scene Coordinator to support Federal, State, and local removal efforts and ensure the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund is reimbursed on an ongoing basis.

This is the eighth bill the Administration has sent to date. The first seven bills have been paid in full by BP, totaling $581 million.

This invoice is based on specific Federal Government expenses that are subject to billing at this time, including expenses associated with the response of over two dozen Federal entities and agencies from four States, in accordance with the Federal On-Scene Coordinator request for assistance process. Federal response activities not subject to billing at this time, including future activities, will be billed to the responsible parties through subsequent invoices. In addition, these bills do not include any other costs for which BP and the other responsible parties are liable to any other party.

The United States Coast Guard is responsible for administering the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to ensure rapid response to oil spills, to compensate individuals and communities harmed by oil spills, and to ensure that the costs of response and cleanup are borne by the responsible parties.

More information about oil spill costs and reimbursement

 

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Obama and New Orleans Sunday, Aug 23 2009

This is a GREAT ARTICLE ON OBAMA AND NEW ORLEANS from the Times-Picayune.

In part…

But his administration has shown a dogged dedication to bending the federal bureaucracy in what Flozell Daniels Jr., president and CEO of the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, describes as a “kinder, gentler” direction.

With “federal agencies finally working as partners and not adversaries, ” Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-LA, said, “in its first seven months, the Obama Administration has made significant progress toward making the Gulf Coast recovery effort quicker and more efficient.”

“I would say what they have demonstrated in this first year is a low-key but genuine commitment to accelerate the business of recovery, ” said Amy Liu, deputy director of the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, which publishes an annual New Orleans Index, detailing the city’s progress since Katrina.

Or as the president put it in an Oval Office interview in advance of the fourth anniversary, of Katrina: “In terms of rebuilding, two of my best Cabinet members, Secretary Napolitano of Homeland Security and HUD Secretary Donovan, have been spending an extraordinary amount of time thinking about how to deal with the blockage of assistance in the region.”

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