BP agrees to put $20 billion in escrow fund, official says

BP agrees to put $20 billion in escrow fund, official says

Washington (CNN) -- BP has agreed to place $20 billion in an escrow fund to pay for claims in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, a senior administration official told CNN on Wednesday.

The development came as President Obama sat down with top BP executives at the White House on Wednesday in a highly anticipated meeting that follows repeated administration insistences the company must pick up the tab for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.

The meeting between Obama and BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg was also attended by Vice President Joe Biden, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Attorney General Eric Holder, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, among others, according to an administration official.

Also representing BP: company CEO Tony Hayward and Managing Director Bob Dudley, along with BP America CEO Lamar McKay.

The meeting was expected to last roughly two hours, according to a senior administration official.

Thats alot of money. But is it really enough? And also heard that BP will not be allowed to distribute the money, and will be handled through a Independant 3rd Party.

BP to Set Aside $20 Billion.

[edit on 16-6-2010 by Oozii]

reply to post by Oozii


He,he, probably Obama offered to push and pass the cap and trade that BP supports very much and because cap and trade will generate billions taxing the people to death this will be very profitable for those that are behind it.

Then again is all the concessions, you know, campaign money, under the table donations and keep turning a blind eye to BP drilling record of blunders.

This is a good thing, now we know there is at least $20b for set aside and controlled by someone besides BP. I can't want to find out who this third party will be. I am sure this will also upset the UK even more. I would also expect that some law suits will be dealt with outside of court.

Did I hear this right?

The guy or people involved in handling the 911 compensation fund are also handling this escrow fund?

I can see how these people profit from these disasters. I was sickened to know that Bush and Clinton headed the Tsunami relief and Bush Jr and Clinton headed the Haiti relief fund. From what I understand to have a charity you must only give 6-16% of what you raise.


Disaters and terrorism is GREAT business.





[edit on 16-6-2010 by Shadow Herder]

Originally posted by Shadow Herder
Did I hear this right?

The guy or people involved in handling the 911 compensation fund is handling this escrow fund?

"Attorney Kenneth Feinberg has been tapped to oversee the claims process, a senior administration official said."

September 11 Victim Compensation Fund

Appointed by Attorney General John Ashcroft to be Special Master of the fund, Feinberg worked for 33 months entirely pro bono. He developed the regulations governing the administration of the fund and administered all aspects of the program, including evaluating applications, determining appropriate compensation and disseminating awards.

You saw correct.

Originally posted by Oozii

Originally posted by Shadow Herder
Did I hear this right?

The guy or people involved in handling the 911 compensation fund is handling this escrow fund?

"Attorney Kenneth Feinberg has been tapped to oversee the claims process, a senior administration official said."

September 11 Victim Compensation Fund

Appointed by Attorney General John Ashcroft to be Special Master of the fund, Feinberg worked for 33 months entirely pro bono. He developed the regulations governing the administration of the fund and administered all aspects of the program, including evaluating applications, determining appropriate compensation and disseminating awards.

You saw correct.

That program was the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. It disbursed more than $7 billion to 5,560 claimants, while generating overhead costs of only 3%.

The fund was prepared to continue indefinitely, rightly predicting that people might not fall ill until years after exposure to the Pit's poisons and carcinogens.

But such foresight and efficiency had no place in government.

Congress let the fund expire at the end of 2003, even though lawmakers had to know many more recovery workers would get sick and that some would die.

In place of this paragon of efficiency and its 3% overhead, Congress launched this new settlement fund, with overhead costs that could eventually exceed 40%.



Read more: www.nydailynews.com... xzz0r2OQd8nl

7 billion dollars for 5100 people equals 1.2 million per person which I hope and doubt one would get and with a 3% overhead is around 210 million dollars profit and as they said it would eventually exceed 40%.

Nice to know that these people are running the escrow fund.

[edit on 16-6-2010 by Shadow Herder]

I find it strange that the NY times reported this differently:

WASHINGTON — The White House and BP tentatively agreed on Wednesday that the oil giant would create a $20 billion fund to pay claims for the worst oil spill in American history. The fund will be independently run by Kenneth Feinberg, the mediator who oversaw the 9/11 victims compensation fund, according to two people familiar with the deliberations.

Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, left, and the chairman of BP’s board, Carl-Henric Svanberg, center, walked with a White House staff member as they arrived for a meeting with President Obama on Wednesday.
The agreement was not final and was still being negotiated when President Obama and his top advisers met Wednesday morning with BP’s top executives and lawyers. The preliminary terms would give BP several years to deposit the full amount into the fund so it could better manage cash flow, maintain its financial viability and not scare off investors.

((Bolding is mine))

Although to be fair.. the headline of the story was just as incongruent...

BP Agrees to Set Aside About $20 Billion for Spill Claims

Well, we're all supposed to feel better now.... since money will buy back all the dead animals and neutralize all the poison resulting from this 'accident.'

[edit on 16-6-2010 by Maxmars]

What would happen if the costs are more that 20 bil?

reply to post by Shadow Herder


Several big questions remain unanswered, including when BP would start processing claims and paying people out of the fund; who and what would exactly be covered under the plan; how the White House and BP came up with a figure of $20 billion; and whether other involved companies will be required to chip in.


Feinberg ran the unprecedented $7 billion government compensation program for the victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks. It was a job that lasted nearly three years as he decided how much compensation families of the victims should get, largely based on how much income they would have earned in a lifetime.

As pay czar, Feinberg has capped cash salaries at $500,000 this year for the vast majority of the top executives at the five major companies that received bailout funding: American International Group, GMAC Financial Services, Chrysler Financial, Chrysler and General Motors.
Filed under: Nation, Politics, Top Stories

Source

Over three years....
I can't help but feel like this will take even longer.
I really hope that they start ASAP.

Originally posted by MaxmarsWell, we're all supposed to feel better now.... since money will some buy back all the dead animals and neutralize all the poison resulting from this 'accident.'[edit on 16-6-2010 by Maxmars]

Money can't buy everything as they say. And the worse is yet to come.
$20Billion set aside for claims. So what about the oceans, wildlife, all the sea life that's been effected by this. I wonder what sum they'll come up for that...

[edit on 16-6-2010 by Oozii]

this will be good news for those that have full trust in the mainstream media. The belief that money can actually "solve" anything is the most rediculous twist in logic ever. I wonder how many people would be shocked to find- in the hypothetical event that the oceans are totally messed up by this for a long period of time, destorying ecosystems and polluting inland areas through the weather cycle- that they can't eat money, build a house with it. Perhaps they'll try making clothing or using it as fuel for fire.

20 billion dollars is excellent for the people whos living is ruined but the damage is done. I just hope this isn't spun as a great achievement that should negate the outrage and worry.

Cheers

Gee, I wonder where they will get the money from to put into that escrow account. Oh wait, let me guess: YOU! YOU if you keep filling up at BP!

I'm not out to hurt BP station owners, but lets make BP REALLY pay for this. Stop at a BP station to buy your milk, bread, smokes, sodas, etc., but please do not buy their gas. And listen, you won't be hurting them stations by not buying BP gas, they make very little, if any, profit on fuel sales (BP makes all the profit on THAT). So, you can see, you CAN boycott BP gas without hurting the franchise station owners.

This escrow business is just some slick way to make YOU pay for this negligence without realizing it (well, okay, the smart folks can see through this scheme, but lets educate those that can't see past the end of their nose clogged with BP oil).


[edit on 16-6-2010 by Divinorumus]

WOW...$20 Billion smackers in escrow. That used to be a lot of money but as we approach DAY 60 of this mess with no end in sight I have a feeling that $20 Billion will be just a drop in the bucket. Hell, we can't even get an accurate number on how much is gushing each day!!!

1. What if the leak cannot be stopped even with the relief wells?

2. What if the leak causes a significant "fissure" in the seabed and the whole thing collapses?

I live in Texas and I have a feeling that the worst is not upon us yet. Thanks for the $20B but if the leak cannot be stopped then what do we do? I mean really, what do we do? How much oil is there? What happens if the whole thing collapses? This is a freakin nightmare from where I sit and I have no confidence in BP or Obama or anyone else to actually fix this. I don't like Obama and did not vote for him but I kinda feel llike he is in a no win situation on this one. When you are President you get the whold enchilada, good or NIGHTMARE! Just my two cents. Thanks.

Originally posted by Common Sense says...
WOW...$20 Billion smackers in escrow. That used to be a lot of money but as we approach DAY 60 of this mess with no end in sight I have a feeling that $20 Billion will be just a drop in the bucket. Hell, we can't even get an accurate number on how much is gushing each day!!!

1. What if the leak cannot be stopped even with the relief wells?

2. What if the leak causes a significant "fissure" in the seabed and the whole thing collapses?

I live in Texas and I have a feeling that the worst is not upon us yet. Thanks for the $20B but if the leak cannot be stopped then what do we do? I mean really, what do we do? How much oil is there? What happens if the whole thing collapses? This is a freakin nightmare from where I sit and I have no confidence in BP or Obama or anyone else to actually fix this. I don't like Obama and did not vote for him but I kinda feel llike he is in a no win situation on this one. When you are President you get the whold enchilada, good or NIGHTMARE! Just my two cents. Thanks.

Well, I think that the $20 Billion is more for the claims people made, and will be making.

And in this thread, I posted that BP has decided not to pay dividends.
(Source is posted in thread)

The oil spill is gonna be very costly, be sure of that. But the main thing is to get that well leak fixed, and clean up as much as possible. We don't need anymore lives lost, or the creatures that share this world with us.

So with this 20Billion escrow account in place, and agreed to without a fuss by BP (20 billion dollars is a huge portion of profits from one oil company) my conspiracy meter is kinda going wild.

Oil exploration is suspended by the Obama Regime. The Obama Regime wants cap in trade, which in turn would drive up the price of oil. BP would be required to maintain a presence in the Gulf capturing the oil leak, while other companies are barred by the Obama Regime from having a presence there. BP would be presumably selling captured oil, at the higher cap in trade price. For a 20billion dollar donation to a slush fund, likely overseen by one of the Obama Regimes cronies, they get exclusive access to an oil filed in the Gulf. Whats to keep BP from saying two years from now "still no end in sight, we need to maintain a presence here to capture this oil. Want to buy some?"