BP Spill Compensation Battles Rage On
BP pays billions in compensation but some claims still unpaid; Oil still appearing on beaches in Gulf of Mexico. Company says claims process is flawed, not all oil from spill. 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 colourful 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.
Years After BP U.S.Oil Spill: Compensation Battle Rages
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 colourful 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.
Court Ipholds LNG DWP License
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the decision of the Secretary of Transportation to grant a license for the construction and operation of the Gulf Landing LNG DWP in the Gulf of Mexico. Plaintiffs had challenged the decision, asserting that the environmental impact statement (EIS) was deficient and that the Secretary should have required the use of a "closed loop" system for warming the liquefied natural gas (LNG). The court found that the Secretary's actions were not arbitrary and capricious and did not violate the "best available technology" requirement of the Deepwater Port Act. Gulf Restoration Network v. US Department of Transportation, No. 05-60321 Source: HK Law
