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Aug. 30, 2011
BP does little to ease Council’s frustrations
GULFPORT — For the second time in as many weeks members of the Gulfport City Council expressed concern with BP and its negotiations over the city’s claims for damages suffered as a result of last year’s Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Council President Ricky Dombrowski and councilmen R.Lee Flowers and Rusty Walker continue their heightened involvement, pushing for direct negotiations with BP officials.
“Thanks to Congressman (Steven) Palazzo’s strong support, BP agreed to send Geir Robinson, BP vice president of claims, to Gulfport,” Dombrowski said this week.
Councilman Flowers said he wants to be sure the negotiations proceed smoothly and favorably for the city. Council members fear discussions on such a complex subject could easily become muddled without the assistance of the city’s experts and negotiators.
“The role of the city’s leaders should be to allow our authorized experts and negotiators to deal with BP’s program managers, and rely upon their recommendations when viewing the big picture with the entire council,” Flowers said.
“If BP is really interested in avoiding a long drawn out and expensive court battle it is going about it in the wrong way,” Walker said. “BP America President Lamar McKay and overall BP head Bob Dudley seem to be getting very bad advice. Local jurisdictions all along the Coast, especially in Louisiana and Alabama are watching, and if BP doesn’t wake up, a lot of them will decide to forgo any attempt to negotiate and just battle BP in court.”
Gulfport City Council members are vowing to remain united in this quest for direct, face-to-face negotiations with BP.
“The Council will stay united throughout this process,” Flowers said. “We remain steadfast in doing the right thing for the people of Gulfport.”
Don’t miss the Pub Crawl downtown Friday Sept. 2 at 5:30 p.m., sponsored by the Gulfport Main Street Association. To check out the event page on Facebook, click here.
Office of Public Information - rlafontaine@gulfport-ms.gov - Phone: 228-868-5782
P.O. Box 1780 Gulfport, MS 39502-1780 - FAX: 868-5800
