Bp Agrees to 20 Billion Dollar Fund

Acting under pressure from the White House to deal with the largest environmental disaster in history, BP has agreed to set aside 20 billion dollars to oil spill victims. The announcement was made Wednesday, June 16, as President Barack Obama met with the companies top executives.

The meeting came the morning after Obama vowed in a TV address that “we will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused.”

The 20 billion dollars is not a cap on the amount BP will pay. If legitimate claims require more, then the company will have to pay more.

Word of the fund was well received on the Gulf Coast. Applause broke out during a meeting in Orange Beach, Alabama when Mayor Tony Kennon told participants of the meeting.

“We asked for that two weeks ago and they laughed at us,” Kennon said. “Thank you, President Obama, for taking a bunch of rednecks’ suggestion and making it happen.”

The victims of the spill range from fishermen to restauranteurs … and even to oil rig workers who have been idled by Obama’s halt of deep-sea oil drilling.

BP may not be the only company that has to pay out, however. The Swiss-based conpany Transocean Ltd. owned a majority interest in the rig, while Anadarko Petroleum, a Texas-based company, has a 25 percent non-operating interest in the well.

The fund will be directed by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who also dealt with the fund issues to the families of victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He has become known as Obama’s “pay czar.”

Many big questions still remain unanswered, however, such as when BP will begin processing claims, and who and what will be covered.

While the White House once described BP as an essential partner in plugging up the spewing well of oil, Obama now says that BP has threatened to destroy a coastal way of life.

More information on claims will be released as it becomes available.