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By Verna Gates
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., June 5 (Reuters) - Alabama AttorneyGeneral Luther Strange said the $500 million paid by BP Plc in compensation in the state for the 2010 Gulf of Mexicooil spill was just the "tip of the iceberg" and called for moreclaims, believing Alabama had not received a fair share of the$3 billion in total payouts so far.
Strange hosted meetings on Wednesday across northern Alabamato call attention to potential claims for the very same businesseconomic losses that are the subject of a high-profile BP legalbattle, which will hit the region's appellate court on July 8.
"I believe $500 million is just the tip of the iceberg,"Strange said as he introduced the court-appointed BP claimsadministrator, Pat Juneau, who also attended the three meetings.
Most of the 72,000 claims in Alabama have been filed bycoastal businesses and individuals, Strange said. More than 4million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf over about threemonths, affecting the livelihoods of tens of thousands ofpeople.
"There is an erroneous perception that if you are not on thecoast, you were not affected," said Brian Hilson, head of theBirmingham Business Alliance, in a city 292 miles (470 km) fromDauphin Island, Alabama's southern-most point.
Juneau assured the audience of 50 people in Birmingham, thethird stop of the day, that anyone in the state could make aclaim if they proved a 15 percent loss during the time of spill.
"It is a hell of a deal," Juneau said. "If you havesomething better coming into this state, bring it on!"
Juneau told Reuters last month he expected a surge of lateclaims ahead of the deadline of April 22, 2014.
BP has complained that under Juneau's watch, too many peoplewho suffered no damage are making claims and "making a mockery"of the process. But Juneau responded on Wednesday: "I wasinvited by a state official to educate people in the north as acourt official - I don't have a dog in the fight."
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans agreed toa BP appeal over the claims process, setting a hearing for July8. That came after U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in Aprilfound no reason to interfere with the payout process, despite BPcomplaints of frivolous and "fictitious" claims.
BP had originally estimated the uncapped settlement would besomewhere in the range of $8 billion, but then expressedconcerns about it rising far beyond that.
The source of dispute for BP is the calculation of businesseconomic losses, which account for $2 billion of $3.47 billionin claims deemed eligible so far, according to the website forthe Deepwater Horizon Economic and Property Damages settlement.
Nearly 185,000 claims have been submitted, the website said,and of those, 34,754 have been paid out for $2.4 billion, whilenearly 9,000 more have been identified as eligible, addinganother $1 billion-plus potentially to the total.
The website said Alabama is third among the five Gulf statesfor claims, behind Florida and Louisiana, though the claimantassistance center in Mobile, Alabama, has handled the most.
April saw the end of the first phase of a trial heard byBarbier covering claims brought by the U.S. government, the Gulfstates, and private parties affected by the spill. Legal briefsfor that phase are due next month, before the September start ofthe next phase to determine how much oil spilled.
The case is in re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "DeepwaterHorizon" in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, U.S. DistrictCourt, Eastern District of Louisiana, No. 10-md-02179. Theappeal on claims is "BP Exploration & Production Inc et al. vsLake Eugenie Land & Development Inc, et al." in the U.S. Courtof Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 13-30329.
