Gulf oil rig explosion anniversary: Prayers for fishers lost in the BP claims process
By David Hammer, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune
There has been no shortage of stories about the BP oil spill on this first anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, and the world's media is reminding all who will read or listen that coastal communities are still reeling.
But Archbishop Gregory Aymond knows news stories can get repetitive, compromising our ability to empathize. So, on bended knee, Aymond tended to the needs of depressed and bewildered fishers, restaurant workers and others who came to the Catholic Charities office in Violet for counseling and help with their spill damage claims.
"A year after this event, we get used to reading about it and we forget the people and the burdens of it," Aymond said as he offered prayers for those laid low by the spill, which began exactly a year earlier.
Lois Neville of Violet had just leased 200 acres of oyster beds west of Pointe a la Hache a few weeks before the rig exploded on April 20, 2010. She was just beginning to work on them when the whole area of oyster beds was shut down because of the incursion of oil.
The area is still closed.
BP quickly made her lease payments for her. Then, in August, the company turned its claims process over to Kenneth Feinberg, the man named jointly by BP and President Barack Obama to administer a $20 billion claims trust fund.
Neville hasn't seen another dime. She filed for her final settlement on Dec. 30. Feinberg's Gulf Coast Claims Facility is supposed to make a final settlement offer within 90 days after receiving a claim. That deadline has long since passed, but she can't get any further information.
She's convinced that Feinberg is delaying full payments for larger claims so he can string them out and keep making his $1.25 million monthly salary from BP. The truth is, Feinberg's law firm is getting paid to administer the fund for three years, no matter how fast claimants are paid, but Neville's jaundiced view is the norm in the coastal parishes.
"I'm barely making ends meet with my savings and rental income, and I'm depressed, I'm stressed out," Neville said. "I get very angry. I hate to even watch the news because there are other people in a worse predicament than me."
One of those people is her son-in-law, Christopher Mackey, a shrimper from Violet. He owns a small boat and figures he's owed upwards of $50,000 for his past and anticipated losses, based on Feinberg's plan to pay for twice claimants' 2010 losses.
But Mackey has made no headway with his claim since receiving emergency payments last year, and he can't make his mortgage and other bill payments without some cash flow. So he's caving and taking a quick $25,000 settlement that forces him to sign away his right to pursue any further claims against BP or the other oil-field companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon.
"If more oil come up later, I can't do nothing about it," Mackey said.
"Fishermen like him are getting cheated," his mother-in-law added.
Father John Arnone, the pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Violet, said he's seen an uptick in suicides among fishers. Last month, Arnone said, a fisherman came into the Catholic Charities office and began writhing on the floor, overcome with distress about his unpaid damage claim and the bills piling up on his kitchen table.
Feinberg has said he and his system of 2,700 claims analysts, adjusters, accountants and investigators are facing a massive workload. More than 500,000 claimants have filed more than 800,000 claims. He's paid 178,000 individuals and businesses almost $3.9 billion, but most of those took the quick settlements that Mackey was forced to turn to.
Tom Costanza of Catholic Charities said he isn't seeing many full, final payments to fishers or others who are in the most directly affected sectors. About 11 percent of those seeking a full-review final payment for more detailed, ongoing claims have received a settlement.
Meanwhile, Tuesday brought news that a factory that makes omega-3 fish oil and fish meal products got the largest settlement yet from Feinberg, more than $44 million. The company, Omega Protein Inc., has a fleet of 28 fishing boats in the Gulf, in Abbeyville and Cameron, La., and in Moss Point, Miss. While it doesn't catch fish for direct consumption, it considers itself the largest fishing company in the region by volume.
The idea that a big company would get money before the local fishers angered Mike Campiere of Chalmette, a builder who had come to Catholic Charities for some emotional counseling.
"Guys who are losing their families and livelihoods might have to wait for years and a plant like that is getting $44 million? Incredible," Campiere said.
Aymond said he wonders if Feinberg's system is simply stretched too thin.
"It's not the people, it's the structure and the system," the archbishop said. "It does a lot of emotional damage to people, so they lose the ability to trust in the people and the system, and now they wonder, 'Where is God and where is justice in this?'"
On this Holy Week and spill anniversary, the most he could do was offer words of encouragement and an Easter message of hope.
"We pray with you and pray for you. We want to walk with you and we ask you not to lose hope," Aymond said.
No comments:
Post a Comment