Pelosi: BP Must Compensate Gulf Residents Before Paying Dividends

11th Jun 2010 17:02

By Corey Boles Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) lashed out at BP PLC (BP) Friday, saying the oil giant must compensate business owners and workers in the Gulf Coast region for their lost earnings before it pays a dividend to its shareholders. In a series of sharp comments directed at the beleaguered energy company, the top House Democrat said there was empirical evidence that BP isn't paying claims to Gulf residents in a timely manner. She said she fully understood the company's "fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders" but stressed that BP "must pay its bills". Pelosi said it would be good public relations if the company did a better job of actually meeting claims for compensation rather than launching an expensive television advertising campaign saying it would pay such claims. The California Democrat said she supported removing the liability cap on the amount that oil companies must pay in the event of spill disasters, and that she was pleased Attorney General Eric Holder had sent investigators to the region to see if there evidence BP had acted negligently. The current cap is $75 million, but lawmakers in both the House and Senate are pushing legislation that would remove it altogether. Looking forward to next week when the heads of the five largest oil companies will testify before a House panel, Pelosi said she wanted to hear the executives speak with integrity. She made it clear she wasn't "painting the rest of them with the BP brush". Any taxpayer money spent in the Gulf region as part of the cleanup or in compensation to residents must be fully reimbursed by the British oil company, Pelosi said. -By Corey Boles, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6601; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 11, 2010 12:02 ET (16:02 GMT)