Friday, April 18, 2014

Compensation battle rages four years after BP's U.S. oil spill

From:  Reuters 

By Jemima Kelly
Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off Louisiana, in this April 21, 2010 file handout image. REUTERS/U.S. Coast Guard/Files/Handout
Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off Louisiana, in this April 21, 2010 file handout image.Credit: Reuters/U.S. Coast Guard/Files/Handout

(Reuters) - Four years after the Deepwater Horizon spill, oil is still washing up on the long sandy beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and some islanders are fed up with hearing from BP that the crisis is over.
Jules Melancon, the last remaining oyster fisherman on an island dotted with colorful houses on stilts, says he has not found a single oyster alive in his leases in the area since the leak and relies on an onshore oyster nursery to make a living.
He and others in the southern U.S. state say compensation has been paid unevenly and lawyers have taken big cuts.
The British oil major has paid out billions of dollars in compensation under a settlement experts say is unprecedented in its breadth.
Some claimants are satisfied, but others are irate that BP is now challenging aspects of the settlement. Its portrayal of the aftermath of the well blowout and explosion of its drilling rig has also caused anger.   MORE

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