The amount of oil remaining in the Gulf has been subject to debate with conflicting reports suggesting that either much of the oil is gone or much of it remains. The two major studies came from the federal government’s The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and from researchers at the University of Georgia. NOAA reported that only about a quarter the oil was left in the Gulf while UGA found that seventy to eighty percent remained. In a recent Washington Post article, David A. Fahrenthold and Kimberly Kindy reported that a study from the … Continue Reading

Matthew Lee and Eileen Sullivan of the Associated Press wrote a story with the headline, “Cleanup Aid from Overseas Comes with a Price Tag,” lamenting about the cost that comes with foreign assistance to clean up the Gulf oil spill. They say, “The State Department confirmed that nearly every offer of equipment or expertise from a foreign government since the April 20 oil rig explosion would require the U.S. to reimburse that country.”

Of course they do. Under the 1990 Oil Pollution Act, the party responsible for the spill is also responsible for all the direct … Continue Reading

Jeannine Aversa of The Associated Press wrote a June 29th article detailing some of the economic damage from the Deepwater Horizon spill including:

Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner estimates that up to 250,000 Gulf jobs in fishing, tourism and energy will be lost in the second half of the year.

But what Aversa fails to report is that almost half of this jobless is the direct result of President Barack Obama’s oil drilling moratorium. The American Petroleum Institute forecasts that if the drilling ban continues, more than 120,000 jobs could be lost in the Gulf Coast and key … Continue Reading

Reporting on BP’s agreement to establishing a $20 billion trust fund for oil spill related claims, Scott Wilson and Joel Achenbach reported on page A1 of the June 17th Washington Post:

Both sides got what they wanted out of the encounter. The administration, under fire for how it has responded to the environmental calamity, can boast of creating a huge pot of money for easing the pain of Gulf Coast residents. BP, though poorer on paper in the short run, got some much-needed clarity on its long-term liability.

But then just two paragraphs later Achenbach and Wilson reported:

The figure is not

… Continue Reading

The Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990 set a $75 million liability cap beyond direct cleanup costs for any offshore oil spill. OPA also created a $1 billion Liability Trust Fund paid for by a 5-cent-per-barrel tax on the oil industry, later increased to 8-cents-per-barrel. Politico’s David Rogers reported May 10th that “payments from the fund — which covers not only damage claims but also restoring natural habitat, for example — are capped at $1 billion per incident. And while BP, as the responsible party, is charged with paying the full cost of the cleanup and oil removal, … Continue Reading