State AG Says Comment Made by Manager of BP Escrow-Fund Claims is Wrong

Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bill McCollum wrote Friday to attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who was appointed by President Barack Obama to oversee the nation's independent $20 billion escrow account BP will fund to cover oil-spill response and economic loss and damage claims, to tell him he made incorrect comments to Congress Wednesday about how claims will be decided.

McCollum's office says Feinberg, who previously managed the independent fund for the families of 9/11 victims, testified to the House Small-BusinessCommittee that if a claimant's business was located in an area where oil has not come ashore, state law would not allow the claimant to receive damages.

"Under Florida law, if there's no physical damage to the beaches and it's a public perception, I venture to say that it is not compensable," Feinberg said, according to media reports. "How we deal with that problem is something I've got to address. That's in this area where some discretion's going to have to be exercised."

McCollum says that the claims process is, in fact, dictated by the federal Oil Protection Act of 1990, and that BP has been paying those claims.

"There is no requirement under Florida law that claimants must reside in an area where oil has already washed ashore in order to receive compensation," McCollum wrote. "BP is liable to Florida and its residents for cleanup costs and other damages under the Florida Pollutant Discharge Protection Act, statutes ... and common law theories.

The Pollutant Discharge Protection Act allows commercial fishermen to recover damages simply for damaged reputation, McCollum says, and not for the physical presence of oil.