Attorney Kenneth R. Feinberg, who oversaw the payments to families of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and is now known as President Barack Obama’s “pay czar,” was tap-ped yesterday by the president to direct a $20 billion fund to be set up by BP to compensate victims of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP yesterday bowed to the president’s demand for the fund, and Carl-Henric Svanberg, the chairman of the giant British company, apologized to the American people for the accident. He also said BP is suspending its dividends to shareholders for the rest of this year to help pay for the costs. BP also agreed to set up a separate $100 million fund to compensate oil rig workers laid off as a result of a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling.
