Joe Barton Centrist - Joe Barton Centrist

Editorial from Ft.Worth/Star Telegram June 22
Joe Barton was wrong. Mostly.
Barton, an Arlington Republican who in Congress represents about a third of Tarrant County and most of seven other counties stretching toward Houston, was out of place and out of touch Thursday when he issued his now infamous apology to BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward for "a $20 billion shakedown" at the hands of President Barack Obama.

Later that day, apparently at the insistence of his own party's leaders, Barton retracted the apology to BP and instead apologized for having characterized the White House actions as a "shakedown."

By now, plenty of people have either beaten up on or praised Barton for his remarks, to the point that the news cycle for the incident has been exhausted.
But take away the distracting sound and fury over his loose lips and perhaps momentarily disengaged mind and focus on the huge claims fund instead.
The British oil behemoth did some terrible things that caused the April 20 blowout on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig off Louisiana. Eleven people were killed in the explosion and subsequent fire. The resulting oil spill is an environmental disaster.

BP and the U.S. government should have had better plans in place to limit the damage from that disaster.

But the picture of the company that is emerging now is better. That picture is symbolized by BP's agreement with Obama to create the $20 billion fund to pay damage claims from the spill and $100 million more to pay people and companies for lost income due to the subsequent government moratorium on offshore drilling.

Despite various stumblings, BP is now stepping up to the plate. And while Barton clearly chose the wrong words and the wrong approach, he was right to recognize that BP is not run by demons.

As Steve Westwell, BP's executive vice president, repeated Tuesday in a speech to the World National Oil Companies Congress in London, his company has accepted and is facing its responsibility for the blowout and the spill.

"We have been clear from the outset that all resources available to BP should be applied to meeting our responsibilities," Westwell said.

The $20 billion fund is a credible, even praiseworthy, way to do that. There is ample precedent for it, and it promises to deliver speedy relief to people along the Gulf Coast whose economic lives have been shattered by the spill.

The fund will be administered by Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer and mediator who won praise for administering the federal relief fund for survivors of 9-11 and the families of victims. That effort distributed nearly $7 billion to more than 5,000 people.

Feinberg has also led other settlement negotiations on high-profile issues, including claims by Vietnam veterans who were harmed by coming into contact with Agent Orange, a chemical defoliant.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that BP contacted Feinberg even before its meeting with Obama to seek his help in its Gulf Coast relief effort.
Of course, this is not a philanthropic effort on BP's part. The company benefits if it can settle claims quickly rather than being tied up in court for years, if not decades.

But a speedy, fair and efficient settlement process is better for victims, too. Surely, even Barton would rather see that than a bonanza for trial lawyers.

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