Resentment stemming from the effects of last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill was unleashed at a public hearing in New Orleans, prompting officials to shut down the meeting early.

 

Presiding over the discussion were U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu and Kenneth Feinberg, administrator of BP’s $20 billion claims fund that was set up to help individuals and businesses impacted by the man-made disaster. Many of those in attendance expressed frustration as they told about their need for assistance.

 

David Freedman, general manager of WWOZ-FM and a member of the Gulf Relief Foundation executive committee, told Feinberg that his past work in handling Agent Orange claims and as special master for the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund has not been enough to overcome the perceptions that he is pro-BP.

 

“You are highly regarded in New York for the work you have done,” Freedman told Feinberg. But in the Gulf people think “that you’re disingenuous” and “dishonest.”

 

Feinberg is not an employee of BP, but an agent of the company. He earns $1.25 million a month administering the oil spill fund. To date, he has paid 178,000 claimants a total of $3.9 billion since taking over the claims process from BP last August.

 

The last citizen to speak, before the meeting was halted 40 minutes early, sarcastically congratulated Feinberg for helping give the media the impression that everything is fine in the Gulf region. When the meeting ended, a line of locals was still waiting to speak.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Oil Spill Panel Ducks Out Early Under Fire From Gulf Coast Citizens (by Sabrina Canfield, Courthouse News Service)

Oil Spill Claims Czar Kenneth Feinberg Gets a Rare Shout-Out at New Orleans Meeting (by David Hammer, New Orleans Times-Picayune)

Judge Rules that Administrator of Oil Spill Fund is an Agent of BP (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Taxpayer-Owned GM Pays New CEO $9 Million (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)