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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (81354)	6/15/2010 5:27:50 PM
From: Broken_Clock	1 Recommendation Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 89467

Could FEMA oversee BP claims process? by Bigad Shaban / Eyewitness News NEW ORLEANS – Whether you’re a business owner trying to collect losses through BP’s claim process, or an out of work fisherman hoping to earn a paycheck by deploying boom for BP, concerns continue over the oil company’s pace in dishing out its dollars. The federal government is pitching a possible solution, but it’s a 4-letter word that residents and leaders hoped they’d never hear again: FEMA. As BP says it’s working to send out a second round of claims checks to impacted families, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano tells Eyewitness News she plans on dispatching a top FEMA official to Louisiana to make sure BP improves the process. “To help make sure BP’s claims process is clear, understandable, the documents have been translated, for example, into different languages and that they are paying the claims in a timely manner,” Napolitano said Friday in an interview with WWL-TV. But in the wake of FEMA’s highly criticized performance in paying out claims post Katrina, some wonder what will be different. “FEMA is a classic government bureaucracy it moves very, very slowly,” said Clancy DuBos, Eyewitness News Political Analyst and Gambit political columnist. “Bringing in FEMA to speed things up with oil spill claims process just seems counter intuitive.” Along the coast of Louisiana, the work of deploying boom is hard, the air is hot, and under the sun everything seems longer—the depths of the trucks packed with boom, and the time it takes to un pack it all onto nearby boats. “As fast we load it, they’re putting it right out, coming right back in,” said Colby Creppel, a commercial fisherman now employed by BP to deploy boom across the Louisiana coast. While the vessels are filled with boom, the fisherman are filled with worry. With much of the area’s waters still closed to shrimping and oystering, these men now work for BP trying to defend their cost. Their financial future rests in the hands of the oil company. “The first time for the claims process….I had to wait in line for over 4 hours to try to get our money,” said Creppel. Iris Terrebonne of Laffite just picked up her husband’s second BP check for working out in the gulf . But she says his first check has yet to clear. “We don’t need time, we need relief right away,” said Terrebonne. She’s worried about yet another layer of bureaucracy. FEMA’s help would be a hindrance, she says, to her and her children. “Only now people from [Hurricane] Katrina are getting their money and this is ever since 2005,” said Terrebonne. ”I just think it’s ridiculous.” beforeitsnews.com