President Obama sends BP a bill for $69 million

[cal04]

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/101323-obama-sends-bp-a-bill-for-69-million

The White House announced Thursday the federal government was sending BP a bill for $69 million to reimburse the government for costs of cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the bill represents the total cost to the federal government so far. He noted that President Barack Obama has devoted unprecedented resources to what could be the worst environmental disaster in the nation's history.
And future demands for payment could be forthcoming.

"To provide full transparency of the ongoing efforts and to ensure that the American public is not held accountable for the costs of response and recovery activities, the federal government will bill BP and the other responsible parties periodically for costs incurred by the federal on-scene coordinator to support federal, state and local response efforts," the administration said.

A statement said the government expects "prompt payment."

[mikelgb]

1. BP: The check's in the mail.

[Cha]

2. That should shut up those who were lying about

the taxpayers being stuck but it won't.

[rudy23]

12. I didn't think it was possible to literally laugh and cry at the same time, but this comment made me

do it. I don't know which way to go with it--I'm torn.

[1776Forever]

3. Glad to see this: "And future demands for payment could be forthcoming." You betcha! n/t

[amborin]

4. that doesn't begin to put a dent in the damage BP has caused

to US jobs, fisheries, and worst of all, our environment, with all the afflicted wildlife

[FormerDittoHead]

7. Thank you. You all know this is a "drop" in the bucket, right?

I'm so tired of such amounts being touted as significant because it's more than you or I have in our pockets.

At least its symbolic of the fact that we CAN send them a bill, more than conservatives would have, but $69 million is a very, very small fraction of what the total damages are and will be.

[obxhead]

8. I've heard the number 4.6 billion thrown around as

the projected cost of this spill. Not sure of it's validity though.

[Merlot]

17. "...$69 million is a very, very small fraction ..."

that was my first thought. If the $69 million bill is sent EVERY MONTH, maybe we can make a dent. until then, I'm not impressed.

[mkultra]

18. so are you saying that 69 million is not the current bill

or that your guess at the total cost should be billed upfront?

[FormerDittoHead]

24. It's the current bill that the gov't has sent BP, if you want to play with words.

Not talking damages, not talking about future costs or what the costs will be.

I used to be an accountant. No way this represents the costs to the gov't to date.

The total cost incurred to date just for salaries by the various levels of gov't (civil as well as military) would take weeks and weeks to arrive at.

USE of vehicles, equipment, supplies on hand, repairs, cost of leased equipment, etc. even longer - as those aren't 1:1 expenses.

I would say this is probably just what has been invoiced to the gov't by 3rd parties, (or some very easily arrived-at number), and Obama et al is looking at those bills and saying, "We're not paying these bills..." and he's forwarding them to BP.

From an accounting standpoint, and seeing how fast gov't accountants work, that's the only feasible explanation.

It would be impossible to come to a figure of total expenses incurred to date, and looking at the scale of the operation, it's probably in the many hundreds of millions if not over a billion so far.

[sweetloukillbot]

22. Doesn't sound like this is talking about restitution, just expenses.

There's no mention of cost of the damages caused by the spill, just how much it has cost the government so far to help clean it up.
I'd assume that damages to the gulf, and businesses down there would be covered seperately - if BP pays the government for the loss of fishing jobs, it seems that might make them immune from lawsuits or something like that.

[FormerDittoHead]

23. It's probably costs just invoiced by 3rd party vendors, and Obama wants to forward those bills.

The point of my msg was that up to its posting, people here seemed 'impressed' by the amount.

I know if something like this happened in NJ, the state gov't would have spent $69 million in the first few days.

Gov't salaries, use of vehicles, use of supplies on hand - these figures take weeks if not months to arrive at as there are many levels of gov't working on this.

Yes, then there are damages and losses.

And you're right about BP and the lost salaries. I'm sure their lawyers will wait until foreclosure is knocking at the door of the people down there, and then offer to zero them out, taking over their boats, etc., with an offer to move to a trailer park in Houston!

[taught_me_patience]

5. I hope there is an independent auditor

to audit this bill. The government should not pay one fucking cent that BP should be paying.

[Mimosa]

28. ITA that government should not pay one cent that BP should be paying.

Who's going to cover what the fishermen and seafood businesses would be making this season? They're all self-employed and can't even draw unemployment.

69 million is nothing, just nothing. *sad*

[Phx_Dem]

6. First of many, I'm sure.

[Doctor_J]

9. what's that, one hour's profit?

:wtf:

[Dr Morbius]

10. No, that's about 30 hours profit for British Petroleum. (nt)

[MadMaddie]

11. I think it's a warning shot over the oil rig of BP

there is more coming.

It's also a warning to all of the other oil companies that the jig is up!

The screw is starting to turn...

[PopSixSquish]

13. Well, Rand Paul Isn't Going to Like This One Bit - n/t

[4lbs]

15. I think Rand Paul today said that there wasn't enough regulation of the offshore oil drilling!

I just about damaged my jaw as it dropped upon reading that.

[hulka38]

14. It's on par with Dr. Evil demanding the sum of

one million dollars

[branders seine]

16. oooh.

That'll cover about 5 minutes of the leak.

[davidpdx]

19. We need to urge our sentors to cosponsor the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act

This will up the cap on damages from $75 million to $10 billion. If they are billing $69 billion already, we know it will go well over $75 million.

Dear MoveOn member,

BP is the world's fourth largest corporation, raking in $239 billion last year alone. If BP was its own country, it would be the 33rd biggest economy in the world.1

But unless Congress acts now, taxpayers will get stuck paying almost all the damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill because of an old law that limits oil industry liability for spills to a paltry $75 million.2 Instead of investing in schools, health care, or clean energy, we'll get stuck bailing out BP.

Twenty-three senators have signed onto legislation to make sure the oil companies pay more—but not Senator Ron Wyden.3

Can you call Sen. Wyden right now? Tell him that BP should pay the damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and urge him to co-sponsor the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act

[denimgirly]

20. WH: "That'll show'em! Noone messes with us!"

...and once again corporate says THANK YOU to the WH and to the American people for covering the $1 Trillion remaining in cost.

[Kablooie]

21. I don't know. This sounds more like a political ploy than a true expectation of restitution.

[lunatica]

25. And what will happen if they don't pay the bill?

The government will be left with only one recourse. Suing BP for payment, being tied up in court for years and probably nothing in the end anyway.

But the planet? Parts of it will be dead.

[JBoy]

26. Get their bank account number, and just do automatic withdrawals.

[Still Blue in PDX]

27. This should please people who don't like government interference in business.

Don't like big brother? Don't expect big brother to clean up your messes.