SLIDELL, La. -- More than a hundred members of the Northshore fishing community brought their complaints with the oil spill emergency claims process directly to the man in charge Thursday morning.
Ken Feinberg, the independent Oil Spill Claims Administrator held a Town Hall Meeting at the Harbor Center in Slidell.
Feinberg began by touting the successes of his office, since he took over the claims process 10 days ago, but the audience wasn’t necessarily impressed.
"Over the first 10 days, $66 million has gone out the door," Feinberg said. "I think we are probably paying on average two or three times as much as what BP paid."
According to Feinberg, 1,200 business claims and 4,000 individual claims have been paid since he took over.
"I could care less about anybody else's claims," Ponchatoula shrimper Josh Poche told Feinberg. "I care about myself and that's it."
Poche hit upon a common theme at the Town Hall Meeting, the timeliness of the emergency claims process.
"I file my taxes. I pay my taxes. Go off my taxes. BP did it. In one week I had my money, $9,715 I had in my hand every month. It’s been seven days, eight days now, haven't heard a word."
Most of the problems outlined Thursday morning came from people who either haven't been paid quickly enough, and those who feel their payment is insufficient.
"I understand that no program is perfect, but I want everybody to know, I'm committed to making this work."
Lafitte shrimper William Lorenzo said, he hasn't been paid either. "I've gotten a million excuses, a million apologies."
A visibly frustrated Lorenzo offered Feinberg a suggestion, "Can we take whoever programmed this system for the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, take them down to the swamp, drop them off for 10 days and let them wait on us to go pick them up to see how it feels to keep waiting."
Feinberg defended his office, saying they are processing a thousand claims a day, but also said, "I am determined to do everything I can to help the people in this room. And I understand the frustration, the concern, the uncertainty."
Feinberg pledged to look into every individual claim issue raised at Thursday morning's meeting, and he pledged to come back to Slidell to see if those problems are being solved.
"This is a work in progress," State Representative Steve Scalise said after the meeting. "I think it's important that we brought Ken Feinberg down so he can actually see real problems from real people on the ground."
Anyone effected by the BP oil spill can make an emergency claim for benefits before November 23. Those emergency benefits have no effect on a person's ability to file a lawsuit against BP or anyone else.
Feinberg said, at some point after that, perhaps in December, people will be able to file a claim for what they expect to lose in the future. "There will come a time when I will offer a lump sum payment for future damage where you will be waiving your right to sue BP."
Feinberg added howerver, that's not his immediate concern. For now, he said, he wants to resolve problems with emergency claims.
