Recently, BP's most senior officials have promised to pay all claims resulting from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Now the Administration wants to make sure BP keeps its word.
In a letter sent Friday to Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive officer, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano cited statements by BP officials that the company would pay all legitimate claims and that the company considered the $75 million cap "irrelevant."
BP says it will "respond in due course," and adds that Salazar and Napolitano are merely asking BP to confirm their previous public statements.
What exactly was promised in those statements? From Salazar and Napolitano's letter:
"Based on these statements, we understand that BP will not in any way seek to rely on the potential $75 million statutory cap to refuse to provide compensation to any individuals or others harmed by the oil spill, even if more than $75 million is required to provide full compensation to all claimants, and BP will not seek reimbursement from the American taxpayers, the United States government or the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for any amount," the two cabinet members wrote in their letter, which was made public on Saturday.
One can only hope that for BP, "due course" means sometime this week. Considering that BP has already been caught dragging its feet releasing spill footage and its brand has taken a massive beating, BP better be prepared to open the checkbook.