NEW ORLEANS -- Louisiana's coastal parish presidents, Gov. Bobby Jindal and the government's point man on the BP oil spill disaster, retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, spent about two hours at the same table with BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles.
The Thursday morning meeting in a downtown New Orleans officer tower was two weeks in the making.
"You may remember (Plaquemines Parish President) Billy Nungesser tried to convene a similar meeting last week. BP didn't show up," said Jindal. "We tried to do a meeting with parish presidents and BP earlier this week to resolve unpaid claims. BP didn't show up again. The meeting started off better than our last two tries because at least everybody was in the room."
"All in all, it was a frank, productive meeting," said Allen. "You know these parish presidents, nobody held anything back."
BP agreed to give parish presidents until next Tuesday, to come up with a plan for maintaining the oil clean-up effort after the company's damage wellhead in the gulf is finally killed.
"We want to make sure that after the first 100 days and all the struggles and challenges we went through to get resources and assets in our respective areas, that that fight is not going to now shift to having to fight to hold onto those assets," said St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro.
The parish presidents say their questions about how much oil is still in the gulf and where it might be, went unanswered.
The government estimates there could be up to 58 million gallons of oil in the gulf that wasn't skimmed, burned or evaporated.
"Yesterday, there was a flight were no oil was seen," said Nungesser. "I don't know how they they took that flight, but they must have bobbed and weaved around the oil because in Plaquemines Parish there is oil, all over."
Local leaders also complained about the Coast Guard's efforts to move oil response equipment and personnel out of the area during last week's Tropical Storm Bonnie.
"For minor storms we made the point and they agreed that this equipment should be kept in the parishes as close to possible to the water," said Jindal.
BP also agreed to continue paying fishermen, sidelined by the oil spill.
"Today, we were told they've made the decision, there will be another check," said Nungesser. "There will be an August check sent out to the fishermen."
It could be another month before BP decides how to cutback on the number of local fishermen, now tending boom in the vessels of opportunity program.
Admiral Allen said the program will continue at least through August. He said it will overlap decisions now being made about reopening commercial fishing areas and the Gulf Coast claims process.
