Behind the scenes on that $20 billion fund - BP Softens Political Fallout From Oilspill
This was no shakedown of BP. It appears they managed to wrest a few concessions. The $20 billion fund is wonderful; but I hope it doesn’t come at the expense of what needs to happen down the line:
WASHINGTON—BP PLC, despite being put under pressure by the U.S. government to pay for the oil-spill aftermath, has succeeded in pushing back on two White House proposals it considered unreasonable, even as it made big concessions, said officials familiar with the matter.
BP last week agreed to hand over $20 billion—to cover spill victims such as fishermen and hotel workers who lost wages, and to pay for the cleanup costs—a move some politicians dubbed a “shake down” by the White House. Others have portrayed it as a capitulation by an oil giant responsible for one of the worst environmental disasters in history. A more accurate picture falls somewhere between.
The fund is a big financial hit to BP. But behind the scenes, according to people on both sides of the negotiations, the company achieved victories that appear to have softened the blow.BP successfully argued it shouldn’t be liable for most of the broader economic distress caused by the president’s six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. And it fended off demands to pay for restoration of the Gulf coast beyond its prespill conditions.
Now, really, there is no reason they should have had to have paid for Gulf restoration beyond the prespill conditions.
But it seems a lot of folks are thinking BP will make whole those who are losing as a result of the moratorium, and that may not be the case, after all.