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| President Barack Obama expects BP to foot bill for wages lost because of drilling moratorium |
| 2010-06-10 |
| The Obama administration expects offshore oil rig workers who lose wages as a result of the administration's moratorium on deepwater oil and gas exploration to be reimbursed by BP, a White House spokeswoman said Monday. The costs could be significant. The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association estimates that each of the 25 operating Gulf rigs affected by the moratorium, and another five that had planned to begin operations before the end of the year, normally would employ between 800 and 1,400 workers. The average wages per worker is $1,804 a week. That could mean lost income of between $150 million to $300 million a month, the association said. There was no comment from BP on whether it would agree to pay claims for lost wages from oil rigs shut down by the moratorium, which was declared after the British oil giant's Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20 and began leaking millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The company has been accepting claims from fishers and others who have lost income because of the leak. White House spokeswoman Moira Mack said the administration expects BP and any other responsible parties, presumably the two other companies connected to the Deepwater Horizon -- Halliburton and Transocean -- to cover the wages of workers who lose their jobs because of the moratorium. "To the extent there is any delay in BP and other responsible parties paying such compensation, employed individuals who are laid off should file with their state for regular unemployment insurance benefits and other applicable benefits," Mack said. Mack said the administration is seeking legislation that would make oil rig workers, whose employment isn't always steady enough to qualify for unemployment, eligible for the benefits. She said the administration would seek reimbursement from BP for any government funds allocated for unemployment benefits for these workers. To file a claim with BP, people can go to www.bp.com/claims or call BP's helpline at 800.440.0858. Those who have already pursued the BP claims process and are not satisfied with BP's resolution, can call the Coast Guard at 800.280.7118. It has the authority to mediate disputes between BP and claimants. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said whether BP will be obligated to pay for lost wages of rig workers could be in legal dispute because the moratorium, although a direct result of the BP rig accident, came about as a result of a government decision. She said she would prefer the administration say that it has "ordered" BP to pay for lost wages, rather than expect the reimbursements. Landrieu said the best thing the administration can do is shorten the length of the moratorium, and give the industry a "date certain" when operations can resume so companies aren't tempted to move rigs from the Gulf to the coasts of Brazil and Africa. Other members of Louisiana's congressional delegation, including Republican Sen. David Vitter, called on the administration to quickly inspect all the affected rigs, and allow back into service any operations without safety issues. During a visit to Louisiana on Friday, President Barack Obama defended his moratorium, but said that if a White House commission, and his Interior Department, find ways to safeguard deepwater oil and gas operations sooner than six months, he would be willing to end the moratorium sooner. Mack said the six-month moratorium was "instituted to ensure the safety of deepwater drilling." "The president believes we must ensure that the BP deepwater spill is never repeated," Mack said. "This will allow for the new safety equipment and procedures announced in (Interior) Secretary (Ken) Salazar's May 27 report to be implemented and for the independent commission to review the cause of the spill and analyze the rules and regulations governing offshore drilling." Some congressional members, including Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said it probably will take longer than six months, to get necessary safeguards in place. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, who attended a hearing Monday in which the wives of some of the men who lost their jobs in the BP accident, said he's glad the president has acknowledged the serious economic damage from the drilling moratorium. But he said "it is an insult to the thousands of Louisiana workers who will lose their jobs as a result of his misdirected order that he will offer them an unemployment check as a consolation for taking away their jobs." Soon after the spill, Obama announced that he was making small business loans available to businesses that have been impacted by the spill, as well as seeking legislation that would liberalize eligibility by affected workers for unemployment insurance. Landrieu said that the SBA loans, while helpful to some, probably aren't a viable option to many because so many went heavily into debt after losses incurred during Hurricane Katrina, nearly five years ago. "Unemployment benefits and SBA loans are a good start and I support both because they will help Louisiana workers," Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, said. But Melancon said the "most important action the president could take to help people in south Louisiana would be to end the moratorium on offshore drilling so our people can get back to work as quickly as possible." Melancon previously said that he understood the administration's decision to temporarily halt deepwater drilling, but said Friday that he he asked the president to end it as quickly as possible |
| Posted by:Beavis |
| #11 "President Barack Obama expects BP to foot bill for wages lost because of drilling moratorium" Just a minute here asshole, BP did NOT declare a moratorium, YOU DID. Let's see the correct person gets sued, and that person is President Obama himself. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-06-10 23:40 |
| #10 "President Barack Obama expects BP to foot bill for wages lost because of drilling moratorium" Why don't we start by your first using all that BP money they gave YOU, Bambi, during your campaign, to "foot the bill." Proof Bambi's a crooked politician - he won't stay bought. >:-( |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-06-10 23:00 |
| #9 By the way...who is the democrat from North Dakota who when interviewed today and asked about how the shale is North Dakota was doing, answered, "Oh well it produces a lot of money! I mean, err, oil." Uh huh. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2010-06-10 22:06 |
| #8 Maybe not...for $50 or even $100 million to bungle the case, both sides come out ahead. whew! glad everything else is taken care of so the man can concentrate on the litigation. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2010-06-10 22:04 |
| #7 So Obama expects BP to just write him a blank check for whatever mistake(s) he decides to make in handling the situation? Hahahahahaha! |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-06-10 21:44 |
| #6 Unless this is all Obamatheatrics, BP might not be sending Barry another $33m in campaign assistance in 2012. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-06-10 21:34 |
| #5 "President Barack Obama expects BP to foot bill for wages lost because of drilling moratorium" And I want a pony! F*ckin' communist. >:-( |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-06-10 21:27 |
| #4 Good time to buy some BP stock. A year from now you'll have doubled your money. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-06-10 21:19 |
| #3 4 out of 5 Brits wanted Obama (over McCain) to be president and many tried all they could to influence the American election. So when Obama disses the Brits, my Give-a-Shits already done got flushed. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-06-10 21:04 |
| #2 BP may have a tight time meeting dividends. That's the bind for pensioneers. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-06-10 20:42 |
| #1 The lead article in the UK Telegraph today was how Obama was hurting UK pensions by his actions against BP and that was before this particular idiocy. I doubt BP will pay the workers wages. It would be a terrible prescident - private companies having to pay directly for the costs of government actions. BP is probably close to the point where they say 'to hell with the PR' and fight these costs being imposed on them in the courts. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2010-06-10 20:22 |