Spill's economic fallout called long term - Business - MiamiHerald.com

 

In Louisiana, so far the only known coastal victim of the gusher's oil, tourists and seafood wholesalers spend about $1.5 billion a year, according to government figures. Mississippi and Alabama rely on tourism and seafood for at least $5 billion.

Moody's noted that personal income jumped nearly 10 percent in Alaska in 1989 after the Exxon Valdez spill.

But ultimately the spill cost Alaska about $2.8 billion in economic activity, thanks in part to the severe damage to the Pacific herring fishery.

The Moody's report saves some of its grimmest hypotheticals for Florida, which has yet to be linked with any oil from the Deepwater well.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/28/1652092_p2/spills-economic-fallout-called.html#ixzz0pUJVnrl0

Click on the following for more details:   Spill's economic fallout called long term - Business - MiamiHerald.com

BP wants Houston judge with oil ties to hear spill cases | McClatchy

 

Facing more than 100 lawsuits after its Gulf of Mexico oil spill killed 11 workers and threatened four coastal states, oil giant BP is asking the courts to place every pre-trial issue in the hands of a single federal judge in Houston.

That judge, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes, has traveled the world giving lectures on ethics for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, a professional association and research group that works with BP and other oil companies. The organization pays his travel expenses.

Hughes has also collected royalties from several energy companies, including ConocoPhillips and Devon Energy, from investments in mineral rights, his financial disclosure forms show.

Click on the following for more details:  BP wants Houston judge with oil ties to hear spill cases | McClatchy

Groundwork laid for oil suit | news-press.com | The News-Press

 

BP has paid out more than $2 million to Floridians for individual lost-income claims, and kept most of the cases open for future payment. That's on top of the $50 million it gave the state for emergency preparations and a tourism promotion campaign.

Fred Levin, a Pensacola attorney who assembled the state's team of private lawyers that won a $14 billion settlement from the tobacco companies, said the BP effort could dwarf that effort. Finding the right experts on a county-by-county basis who can evaluate and determine economic damages will be a massive undertaking, he said.

Finding a legal team capable of bankrolling up-front case preparation will be difficult, if not impossible, Levin said….

"A lawsuit can't stop the oil and BP is not going to run out of money," Levin said. "It's going to be an expensive undertaking. Tobacco is going to be a pittance compared to this."

Click on the following for more details:  Groundwork laid for oil suit | news-press.com | The News-Press

BP Oil Spill Fuels Legal Marketing Machines - ClickZ

By Anna Maria Virzi, ClickZ, May 21, 2010

Great article concerning the advertizing/marketing by “legal advisors” for law suits against British Petroleum.  Get ready to see a flood of such advertizing especially in the Gulf States.

Personal injury and civil litigation attorneys - known for using in-your-face advertising tactics - are seeing gold in the black crude oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion last month.

Click on the following for more details:  BP Oil Spill Fuels Legal Marketing Machines - ClickZ

Daily Herald | E-mails detail past problems in tollway, Wilton partnership

Has anyone taken a look at the Oasis at Belvidere lately?  There maybe many problems there as well as in the 6 county area.

The tollway tried numerous times to get a look at Wilton's books, but the company denied access. By mid-2008, Wilton owed the agency about $1.4 million

Click on the following for more details:  Daily Herald | E-mails detail past problems in tollway, Wilton partnership