UPDATE: Alabama Gov Calls For Compensation Over Oil Spill

13th Jun 2010 16:06

(Adds call for fund to pay damages; comments; details) WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The Coast Guard admiral overseeing the government response to the BP Plc (BP, BP.LN) oil spill said officials will discuss setting up an organization to administer a fund to pay for damages. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen told CBS's "Face The Nation" on Sunday that discussions will focus on an independent third party that could administer such an account. "We've been very concerned about the claims process," Allen said. "This is not a core function of an oil producing company." Florida Gov. Charlie Crist favored such a fund. "What we can do is focus on making the people whole," Crist said on "Face the Nation." Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, appearing on the CNN talk show "State of the Union," said his state needs compensation for the damage caused by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. "We're going to have to have some level of compensation," Riley said. "Our tourist season is essentially from Memorial Day to Labor Day." A Federal Reserve report on the U.S. economy last week said business contacts indicated the potential impact on the tourism industry along the coastline of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and western Florida could be substantial. "The state of Alabama is being negatively affected," Riley said. "It's going to have to be taken care of, either by BP or someone else." On ABC's "This Week" Rep. John Boehner (R., Ohio) called for completely lifting the liability cap on BP so that the company bears the full cost of the economic damage of the spill. And Rep. Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) said, "BP has not been accurate in its representations. It has been misleading [and] what has happened is outrageous and the American public are, correctly, very, very angry." Microsoft (MSFT) founder Bill Gates is urging the U.S. to invest billions of dollars a year to bring about a clean energy revolution that would free it from dependence on oil. Appearing on ABC's "This Week" Gates said, "I think in any crisis like this, the key thing is to avoid them happening in the future." Riley expressed frustration over the response and cleanup to the spill. Rep. Mike Pence (R., Ind.) also appearing on "State of the Union," said the Obama administration was slow to respond to the spill. "That's our coastline and the president should be marshaling every resource," Pence said. But Rep. James Clyburn (D., S.C.) defended the administration. "There must be 12, 14, almost 20 entities involved. Managing that gets clumsy. But I do believe the president is much more hands-on at this point than he was at the beginning." -By Jeff Bater, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9249; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 13, 2010 11:06 ET (15:06 GMT)