[StBernard] CLARIFIED RELEASE: St. Bernard Parish Oil Spill Branch receives notice FROM AMIGO ENTERPRISES, INC. to vacate Hopedale Command Center

[Westley Annis]

Editors note: The three top officers of Amigo Enterprises are:

R. John Despeaux, Jr - President
Anthony Fernandez, Jr - Sec/Treas
Jack Stephens - Vice President

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PLEASE NOTE THAT AMIGO ENTERPRISES IS THE ENTITY THE MANAGES THE HOPEDALE
SITE AND HAS NOT BEEN PAID FOR LAND USE AND SERVICES.  

St. Bernard Parish Oil Spill Branch receives notice to vacate Hopedale
Command Center

 

St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro said that the St. Bernard Parish
Branch oil spill operations received a notice Tuesday to vacate the Hopedale
Command Center within the next 10 days because BP has failed to pay for land
use and other services provided by Amigo Enterprises, Inc., that manages the
land where the center is located. The notice orders the base be vacated
completely.

 

"We received a notice to vacate Hopedale base," Taffaro said at a Tuesday
evening press conference at the St. Bernard Parish Government Complex in
Chalmette. "This was predicated on lack of payment for services. The most
prominent expense that has not been paid is fuel costs. We don't have the
final figure. However, (Amigo Enterprises) is out several million dollars
and has had to front money to contractors' for services." St. Bernard Parish
Councilman Kenny Henderson was also present at the press conference. 

 

In addition to not receiving payment for land use, Taffaro said Amigo
Enterprises has not been compensated for hard costs that were paid for up
front, such as fuel and construction limestone used as part of the base for
the operations. Additionally, Amigo Enterprises has been paying for the
security detail for oil spill operations, and the company is still owed
$900,000 for those payments that were fronted. If payment is not received,
security will pull out by Friday, Sept. 3.

 

Taffaro said similar difficulties exist at other staging areas for oil spill
operations in St. Bernard Parish. "Delacroix is also in a negotiation
stalemate with the landowner. In regards to Shell Beach, an agreement has
been reached but not paid for," he said.

 

"We continue to have impacts of oil. We had a sighting today of oil
impacting the shoreline. We will continue operations and we will not shut
down the branch," Taffaro said. "We are calling on BP to step forward to
make this right. We stand ready as a Parish and Command staff at the
Hopedale Branch to do whatever we need to do. I spoke with Admiral Zukunft
(Federal On-Scene Coordinator) who assured me that St. Bernard would have a
command post and would have operations." 

 

Taffaro said he received word late Tuesday that BP would like to renegotiate
the rental agreement at Hopedale. "We are hoping someone will give us some
relief in the next few days," Taffaro said. "The Operations and Planning
Sections are identifying a list of questions we need answers to in order to
facilitate such a move of operations. To move this magnitude of operation
will take an entire week. We are planning to continue operations, and we
will look for an alternative site to operate from."

 

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