Justice Department: Slow pace of compensation for spill victims is ‘unacceptable’

Add the Justice Department to the long list of critics of Ken Feinberg's Gulf Coast Claims Facility -- the body that's charged with using BP's $20 billion escrow fund to process loss-of-income claims by Gulf Coast residents against the oil giant.

Feinberg himself admitted as much recently, confessing, "Those critics who say Ken Feinberg raised our expectations and then is not living up to those expectations, they're absolutely right, and I owe them an apology." He added, "I underestimated the time it takes to process that information. It's not as easy as I anticipated."

On Sept. 17, Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli acknowledged the compensation chief's mea culpa in a letter sent to Feinberg. Even so, however, Perrelli blasted the current pace of claims processing as "unacceptable."

"Your recent public statements have acknowledged that the process is more complicated and time-intensive than you had anticipated," Perrellin wrote. "I would reiterate to you, however, that the efficiency of the GCCF's review and payment process is not just a matter of fulfilling your own performance goals. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill has disrupted the lives of thousands upon thousands of individuals, often cutting off the income on which they depend. Many of these individuals and businesses simply do not have the resources to get by while they await processing by the GCCF. As the present pace is unacceptable, the GCCF needs to devote whatever additional resources — or make whatever administrative changes — are necessary in order to speed up this process."

Meanwhile, in a bid to restore public confidence, the website for Feinberg's office posted a press release over the weekend announcing that it is now "implementing new procedures that will make this program more efficient, more accelerated and more generous." As Feinberg says in the statement, "We have heard and we understand the criticisms, and we are responding. We will be sending out more generous checks more quickly."

(Photo via AP)