Fearful that the State and Florida taxpayers could be left “holding the bag”, Attorney General Bill McCollum sent a letter to BP US General Counsel, John (Jack) Lynch Jr. on Thursday, calling on BP to immediately establish a “dedicated escrow account solely for the purpose of paying claims and damages to Florida and its citizens.” McCollum called on BP to deposit at least $2.5 billion in an interest earning escrow account, after learning that the oil giant has not set aside monies for paying claims to the State of Florida, business owners or individuals suffering from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Catastrophe.
There are concerns too that, although BP is one of the biggest oil companies worldwide, given the scale of the oil spill disaster and associated liabilities which continue to mount, the company might have to declare bankruptcy to survive. The oil giant has already lost around 46 percent of its value since April 20th.
Meanwhile, nationally renowned economist, Sean Snaith of the University of Central Florida have put initial estimates of losses to Florida at $2.2 billion in gross state product and job losses of about 39,000 as tourism, fisheries and leisure industries cut jobs, as a result of declining visitor arrivals.
Currently, Florida has an unemployment of 12 percent, well ahead of the national rate of 9.9 percent.
