"Fracking" sounds like a dirty word, which means it's really fun to talk about. Or as fun as anything can be when the byproducts include "highly corrosive salts, carcinogens such as benzene and radioactive elements such as radium."
Pro-Publica and NYU's Studio 20 have teamed up to make a totally smart and catchy music video about fracking that is what fans of conflations (i.e. moi) might call "edutainment."
(At the BP claims center in Gretna, Louisiana, July 17. Photo: BP)
The first report came in today from Pro Publica's investigation into the way BP is paying (and not paying) damage claims from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. BP set $20 billion aside for people whose livelihoods have disappeared as a result of its nightmare well.
Unless your livelihood depended on commission. Duane Sandy sells storage units in Fort Walton Beach. Since the Deepwater Horizon began leaking, Sandy says he hasn't closed the deal on a single one. First BP told him he hadn't documented the claim well enough. And then?
Sandy said that when he called BP's adjuster, he heard a different story -- that BP would not pay his claim because it was not approving payments for income loss based on commissions. "Once they heard I got paid by commission, they didn't care what I did," Sandy said.
Hours after Pro Publica posted the story, BP put out a press release acknowledging that it's not paying certain claims. In classic BP-ese, the press release is titled "BP Takes Action to Fast-Track Claims for Gulf Coast Businesses." Apparently they're waiting for claims czar Ken Feinberg to sort out the ones BP doesn't understand.
At the BP claims center in Gretna, Louisiana, July 17.
How often do you get the chance to help a Pulitzer Prize winning news org and be part of telling the truth about an environmental felon like BP? The investigative nonprofitPro Publica wants your help in figuring out how well BP is doing in paying financial claims from its Deepwater Horizon Disaster.
BP's data show that it has returned more than half of submitted claims because they "lack enough information for BP to make a payment." In most of those cases, it has told people that they have to provide more documentation to prove that their claim is legitimate.
Most of us won't have filed a claim, of course. But we might know someone who has. And we might know someone who knows someone.
Here's how you can help. If you've filed a claim yourself, let Pro Publica know. If you haven't, pass this story around. For this kind of reporting to work -- for a true and accurate picture to emerge -- as many people as possible need to know about the project.
We'll keep you posted as the data rolls in.
