[StBernard] 'Spillionaires': Profiteering and Mismanagement in the Wake of the BP Oil Spill

[Westley Annis]

With this shi, uh crap, then add in the MF and Torres/Randazzo on the apt
land sales, and then the apts themselves, it's a wonder anyone does not have
a cynical attitude for parish leaders, the MF and all the rest.  Looks like
another clean sweep needs to be done come election time.  We think we get
our hero in one election only to find out they seem to be as bad or worse
than what we've had before.






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	Editor's notes: Links to documentation that was used to support the
story
	are on the web site listed below.
	
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	'Spillionaires': Profiteering and Mismanagement in the Wake of the
BP Oil
	Spill
	
	by Kim Barker
	ProPublica, April 13, 2011, 1:05 p.m.
	A version of this story was co-published with The Washington Post.
	http://is.gd/fE5N4y
	
	The oil spill that was once expected to bring economic ruin to the
Gulf
	Coast appears to have delivered something entirely different: a
gusher of
	money.
	
	Some people profiteered from the spill by charging BP outrageous
rates for
	cleanup. Others profited from BP claims money, handed out in
arbitrary ways.
	So many people cashed in that they earned nicknames --
"spillionaires" or
	"BP rich." Meanwhile, others hurt by the spill ended up getting
	comparatively little.
	
	In the end, BP's attempt to make things right -- spending more than
$16
	billion so far, mostly on claims of damage and cleanup -- created
new
	divisions and even new wrongs. Because the federal government ceded
control
	over spill cleanup spending to BP, it's impossible to know for
certain what
	that money accomplished, or what exactly was done.
	
	
	
	The last interview ProPublica had with Taffaro was in November. He
	complained that the BP emergency claims were not distributed fairly
and said
	BP and the federal government should have listened more to local
	authorities.
	
	When pressed about how he selected Loupe and picked the boats for
cleanup,
	Taffaro abruptly ended the interview.
	
	"We're done," he said, escorting the reporter to the door. "I will
not allow
	you to do this to St. Bernard Parish."
	
	ProPublica's research director, Lisa Schwartz, and researchers Kitty
	Bennett, Sasha Chavkin and Liz Day contributed to this report.