BP Says Spill Settlement Terms Are Too Generous

[kpete]

Source: New York Times

BP Says Spill Settlement Terms Are Too Generous
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: February 17, 2011


In the eight months since Kenneth R. Feinberg took over the $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, he has been attacked by many of those filing claims and by coastal state politicians who argue that the process is opaque, arbitrary and slow. Many of them have also argued that Mr. Feinberg’s recently published estimates of future damage to those in the gulf are too optimistic, and thus his offer of compensation in a final settlement is too low.

Now he is getting complaints from another quarter: BP.

The oil giant is arguing that, if anything, Mr. Feinberg’s proposed settlements are too generous. The planned payments far exceed the extent of likely future damages because they overstate the potential for future losses, the company insists in a strongly worded, 25-page document that was posted on the fund’s Web site Thursday morning.

Basing its estimates on much of the same data Mr. Feinberg used, the company concluded that there was “no credible support for adopting an artificially high future loss factor based purely on the inherent degree of uncertainty in predicting the future and on the mere possibility that future harm might occur.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/us/18bp.html?_r=1&hp

[Arctic Dave]

1. Alaska should use this exact statement next time BP wants to negotiate their tax structure.

“no credible support for adopting an artificially high future loss factor based purely on the inherent degree of uncertainty in predicting the future and on the mere possibility that future harm might occur.”

GFYBP

Oops, forgot how to spell my own states name.

[BeFree]

2. well

We can certainly trust BP. Its not like they ever did anything wrong, right?

I mean, really, it was the tree-huggers fault that they had to drill there, eh?

[HankyDubs]

3. ...

:nopity:

[Jazzgirl]

11. Mine is smaller.

[gratuitous]

4. Under ordinary circumstances, I'd surmise BP is pushing its luck

But this being an oil company, it's entirely possible that their whiny-ass complaints will get a sympathetic hearing. In a more just world, BP would be out of business, and its former executives would be cleaning up the spill by hand. And performing housecleaning and landscaping duties on their days off at the homes of the people who depend on the Gulf waters for their livelihoods.

[Demeter]

5. Tell It to the Sick and Dying

[jwirr]

6. They have virtually destroyed a part of our continent and they think

the settlements are too generous. Who do they think they are? God's gift to the USA? Unfortunately they are drilling in other parts of our nation. They should have their US property confiscated and run out of the nation.

[Mnemosyne]

7. Beyond the pale... K&R n/t

[HCE SuiGeneris]

8. BP, and its proponents, can go fuck themselves.

They are liable and culpable for an infinite amount of damage to the denizens of the Gulf.

[DCKit]

9. Isn't Feinberg's firm pulling down about $850K/month to administrate this fund?

Even if it's only a fraction of that amount, he's sure as hell not working for the victims of BP.

[nalnn]

10. As I understand it

The firm he works for represents both BP and the Compensation Fund so...

[Blue_Tires]

12. They ARE too generous

BP should have had to cough up a LOT more:nuke: