As deadline nears, Scott criticized for not suing BP

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is coming under increasing criticism for failing to join a lawsuit against the owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that blew up in the Gulf of Mexico a year ago next week.

"This governor appears to be not interested in over a billion dollars that potentially could be coming into the state of Florida," state Rep. Rick Kriseman, a Democrat from St. Petersburg said Wednesday.

Kriseman went so far as to suggest the governor resign, saying Scott cared more about protecting corporate interests than protecting the people of Florida.

Scott told reporters on Monday that he didn't want to sue to recover damages from the oil blowout, but on Wednesday afternoon, Scott spokesman Lane Wright said "we are looking at all the options. Everything is still on the table."

In response to Kriseman's comments about Scott, he said, "We would hope that legislators would be above taking personal shots. We mean to hold BP accountable, and that's what we're going to do."

Florida has until next Wednesday to file a claim in the federal suit filed in Louisiana. Alabama and the city of Pensacola have joined the suit and Mississippi is expected to do the same, Kriseman said.

The suit will determine how much rig owner Transocean can limit what it pays claimants. But it will also decide how much of the blame lies with BP and other companies involved in the blowout. BP was leasing the Transocean drilling rig when it exploded, releasing the gusher that continued for 70 days.

Scott has also heard from U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, a Tampa Democrat. In a letter on Monday, she urged Scott to join the Transocean lawsuit, saying "Florida needs you to steadfastly fight for the sovereignty claims of the state. Florida taxpayers should not be left on the hook for one dime of BP's damage."

She hasn't received a response, she said.

She had been working with former Gov. Charlie Crist to pursue "any and all causes of action against BP," she said.

After Scott's election when he came to Washington, she said she talked to him about the issue and gave him a packet of information.

"He ensured us he would be just as proactive. He took the packet and thanked me, and I didn't hear anything back," she said. "We've heard nothing about any strategy."

On Monday, Scott stood with BP representatives to announce its plans to spend $30 million to help bring tourists back to the seven Panhandle counties that lost the most after the blowout.

Once the money is distributed, BP will have given the state $82 million for tourism and seafood marketing.

Scott told reporters at the event that he saw no need for a lawsuit. "I'm very comfortable that my discussion so far with BP is that they're going to continue to do the right thing," he said.

Tampa lawyer Steve Yerrid questioned that assumption. He spent eight months last year documenting the short- and long-term damage from the blowout for then-gov. Crist but has been rebuffed in his efforts to share it with Scott, he said.

"Imagine someone owed you a million dollars and gave you $30,000 and said 'trust me for the rest.' How would you feel?" Yerrid asked.

"BP has the best legal defense in the world and now Gov. Scott is going to trust them to do the right thing. They should have already done the right thing."

While not always the answer, a lawsuit can be important because it creates pressure for action, Yerrid said. And in this case, Florida has the advantage because the damage and the causes of the damage are so well documented.

Kriseman voiced the same criticism. "Instead of joining the lawsuit at a time when we're in position of negotiating from strength," the governor seems only to want to talk with BP about reparations.

Referring to Scott's CEO experience with health care giant Columbia/HCA, Kriseman suggested that Scott wasn't comfortable "making a claim for a billion (dollars) and suing a big corporation because he's personally experienced it himself and didn't like the feeling of it."

But oil is still washing ashore, Kriseman said. People have suffered business losses all they way down to the Tampa Bay area, not just in the Panhandle. And the losses are likely to continue because of long-term damage to the environment.

Spokesman Wright said that Scott had not ruled out joining the Transocean lawsuit.

"The state is preparing for the possibility of filing," he said. "But that doesn't mean we've made a decision one way or another."

Yerrid said Florida should already have gone after BP.

"Florida should, could have been a player in this months ago. We should never have had to face an April 20 deadline," he said.

"We've got this budget crisis, but there's money on the table we could already have gotten. It's inexplicable."

lpeterson@tampatrib.com

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