The BP oil leak has sidelined fishermen as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico rages. To settle claims for a Gulf fishing industry in limbo, BP has been cutting checks. The checks, however, are nothing compared to the oil spill cleanup costs BP has incurred so far. About 65 miles of the Louisiana coastline has been fouled by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010 as of Monday. Congress is debating BP’s spill liability, and an attempt to plug the BP oil leak with a “top kill” may take place Wednesday. Meanwhile, BP is not making any allies in Washington as lawmakers expressed outrage at the fact that the oil company continued to utilized toxic oil spill dispersant, disregarding instructions to find an alternative.
Article Resource: BP pays off fishermen as oil spill destroys sea life
BP oil leak runs fishermen aground
What comes as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010 is the closure of a huge expanse of ocean to commercial and recreational fishing. More than 23,000 workers and business owners along the Gulf Coast have filed claims for lost income, according to NNNMoney.com reports. BP has cut checks for payday cash on 9,000 claims worth $ 27.8 million so far. Fishing boat captains have been getting $ 5,000 a month while deck hands get $ 1,000. Owner of Super Strike Charters Damon McKnights, who operates three boats in Venice, LA, told CNN that he was expecting to pull in $ 50,000 a month during the gulf fishing season’s May to August peak.
The trust fund for oil spill liability
BP recently said that oil spill cleanup costs have exceeded $ 350 million, or $ 16 million per day, since the April 20 explosion that sank BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Because of a law passed in response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, BP is responsible for oil spill cleanup costs. However, the law puts a $ 75 million limit on other kinds of damages, like lost wages. According to the Associated Press, several Democratic senators introduced legislation Monday to raise the oil spill liability limit to $ 10 billion as economic losses to the Gulf Coast appear likely to far exceed that amount. Supported by oil industry fees, an Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund is also maintained in the federal government. For individuals, businesses and governments, it can make a total of $ 1 billion in payouts per incident.
BP oil leak outpaces oil spill cleanup
The BP oil leak has reached landfall on about 65 miles of Louisiana shoreline, Governor Bobby Jindal said Monday. The New York Times reports that Jindal implored the Army Corps of Engineers to immediately approve a plan to build artificial barrier islands out of sand to hold back the oil. Based on a figure given by a senior BP executive to members of Congress in a closed-door briefing on May 4, estimates of the quantity of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010 range from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s 6.3 million gallons to a BP worst case estimate of 82.7 million gallons.
Oil spill dispersant highly toxic
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010 cleanup hit a snag Monday as government officials sparred with BP over its failure to meet response effort deadlines. For refusing to discontinue use of a toxic dispersant to break up the oil slick, BP is now under a lot of tension. BP claims there were no other alternative less toxic, and it prepared a top kill to plug the ruptures well. Also reported by the New York Times, BP has applied about 700,000 gallons of the dispersant in the gulf since the BP oil leak began more than a month ago. This is the largest quantity of dispersant ever used on an oil spill in United States waters. BP is hoping that the top kill - pumping heavy liquid into the well - could possibly stop the leak on Wednesday.
Tags: BP oil leak, oil spill cleanup, oil spill gulf of mexico 2010, payday cash