The well has been dead for nearly a month, the leak capped for three months, but in a progress report Monday at the state Chamber of Commerce's Future of Florida Forum in Orlando, a BP executive said that recovery efforts in the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are likely to continue long after the last damage claims are paid out.
"How long will this take? We don't know. We say we're going to be there as long as we need to be. We're committed and we're in it for the long haul," said Luke Keller, BP's executive vice president for Gulf Coast restoration.
An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 people and caused the leak that pumped thousands of gallons of oil each day into the Gulf left BP with a public relations nightmare. The company is trying to slowly make amends with the American public, but attrition doesn't come cheap.
BP has paid out $3 billion in claims and government grants and payment for response and recovery efforts thus far. Of that total, Florida has received $118 million in the form of grants (including $32 million for tourism).
As far as individual claims go, BP has issued more than $387 million to pay 22,888 claims, according to Darren Richards, vice president of Tucker Hall, a public relations firm helping BP with the recovery.
After tarballs began showing up on beaches along Florida's Panhandle, BP also had to pay claims to businesses the length of Florida's Gulf Coast for the negative effect it had on tourism.
"I fully appreciate how important tourism is to the state of Florida," Keller said.
Keller acknowledged problems with BP's response to the spill, but offered no real mea culpa.
"It should really be no surprise that our response was not perfect," he said, citing the size of the spill and of the numerous local, state and federal agencies involved in the cleanup.
Keller said the process of assessing the damage to natural resources and then restoring them is not likely to begin for another year. Meanwhile, the oil company will continue to clean up any vestiges of the spill.
"We'll be cleaning that up as long as we need to be," Keller reiterated.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com, or at (850) 727-0859.
