Admin of Victims Compensation Fund Says “Recovery by 2012″

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Kenneth Feinberg, independent administrator of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF), (the $20 billion victims compensation fund set up to compensate victims of the PB Gulf Coat oil spill) said on Wednesday that he expected the local economy along the Gulf Coat to recover by 2012.

“For every claimant who is eligible other than oyster harvesters, we believe at the GCCF that it is reasonable to conclude full recovery by the end of 2012. There will be gradual recovery over the next two years,” Feinberg said.

By claiming that the recovery is underway, BP will be able to complete it’s emergency payments and begin to offer final, long-term compensation payments for those who have suffered a loss due to the spill. Those who do take the payments will not be able to sue BP for further damages in the future.

The claim of recovery did not apply to oyster farmers, who BP admits will still suffer economic losses long after the rest of the local economy recovers. In fact, not all the damages to the oyster industry have as of yet been discovered. Half of Louisiana’s 390,000 acres of privately leased oyster beds are expected to die off in the next two years. Estimates for future damages require hiring a costly state-certified assessor who charges between $100 and $1,000 per acre.

Kenneth Feinberg, administrator of the BP compensation fund, has said the fund will not pay for those assessors. With oyster farmers unemployed all last summer due to federal and state bans on fishing, very few of them will be able to afford this assessment out-of-pocket.