Fund manager says most oil spill claims lack documentation

 "BP is one of many companies that helped pay for the governors’ convention. BP officials said the organization has been a corporate affiliate of the Southern Governors’ Association for about 20 years and contributed $50,000 this year."

 

Fund manager says most oil spill claims lack documentation

By Phillip Rawls The Associated Press

Published: Monday, August 30, 2010 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, August 29, 2010 at 11:00 p.m.

( page 1 of 2 )

HOOVER | The administrator of the new claims process for victims of the Gulf oil spill said Sunday most of the individual claims reviewed in the first week lacked the minimal documentation to be paid.

“There are thousands of claims that have been filed with no documentation at all,” Ken Feinberg told state officials at the Southern Governors’ Association convention.

Feinberg took over the claims process from BP on Aug. 23. He said 18,900 individual claims were submitted in the first week and all were reviewed. He says payments were authorized to 1,200 individuals totaling about $6 million in emergency compensation.

Payments have already been processed for some and the rest will be done today, he said. Most were for less than $25,000. Those who lacked the necessary documentation will be notified and told what type of material they might submit for payment, he said.

Feinberg said profit and loss statements, tax returns and similar documents are not necessarily required. He said minimal proof is all that is needed, and a crew member of a fishing boat might get paid based on a letter from his captain detailing how the worker had been affected.

Businesses submitted 7,400 claims in the first week and their review is next for Feinberg and his staff of 200 reviewers.

“Once a business documents those claims, we will pay those claims within seven days,” he said.

Some Gulf Coast officials expressed concern that claims not be delayed by asking for one form of documentation and then another.

Feinberg said success will depend on the speed of processing claims, which will not be delayed.

Joining Feinberg at the meeting were incoming BP CEO Bob Dudley and retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government’s point man on the spill.

BP is one of many companies that helped pay for the governors’ convention. BP officials said the organization has been a corporate affiliate of the Southern Governors’ Association for about 20 years and contributed $50,000 this year.

Riley was the only Gulf Coast governor who heard their comments because the others were elsewhere, including attending observances of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. But they sent representatives.

Dudley says BP officials will meet with representatives of Alabama’s governor and attorney general today to discuss the state’s $148 million claim against BP for taxes lost due to the spill.

The attorney general sued BP the same day the governor filed the initial claim, which Dudley said complicated the handling. He said today’s meeting is a get-acquainted session, and he doesn’t expect a resolution.