Manatee Commissioner Charles Smith demands BP pay unpaid claims

PALMETTO -- With the six-year anniversary of the BP oil spill in April, Manatee County leaders are demanding unpaid settlement claims be paid.

During a press conference at House of God Church in Palmetto, Manatee County Commissioner Charles Smith said they will no longer stand silent when upward of $40 million in approved claims have not been paid to churches and small businesses in Manatee County.

"We are demanding payment," Smith said. "We are asking them to come forward and pay every claim that has been provided to them. We have done everything that they have asked of us. They've admitted their faults. They agreed that they need to pay us, so we will not no longer stand idle and allow them to wait for us to start dying off and to destroy our church and small business owners that have already been approved."

While Manatee County government has already accepted a settlement offer and additional monies could come in the future, Smith said they've "refused to pay Latinos, the poor whites and the blacks' claims."

"We are demanding that they pay these claims," Smith said. "This issue will eventually become a national issue. We will not stand silent while more than 100 churches locally in Manatee and Sarasota counties have been approved."

Manatee County Attorney Mickey Palmer said he didn't have enough knowledge to comment Tuesday afternoon.

BP officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Smith said BP is attempting to starve the congregations when the churches suffered during the harsh economic times.

"Every government agency in the state of Florida has received two, and sometimes three, checks," Smith said. "Why not poor underserved, underprivileged Latinos and the black churches and the Latino churches that have filed claims? Why have they not been paid? What's the holdup? What are we waiting for? Our intention is to make this a national issue."

The underserved include a lot of people, including small business owners, who have lost their business, said Geneva Presha, president of Operation People for Peace Inc. of Palmetto.

"It is amazing to me how they allow to continue when cases are settled favorably toward the people here and still not be paid," she said. "That nothing is being done about it. There are people all across this area and we are not talking about any particular group except those who are poor. They are black. They are small business people who may not be poor but they are still underserved in this era that we are living in now so we are bringing attention to this fact. All across the country it is going to go larger and larger and larger."

The Rev. Lawrence Livingston, whose Eternity Temple church filed a claim, said the churches have lost significant funding.

"They've held our funding not overnight but six years," he said. "It is unfair that because we are a church and we are nice that they've held the funds. It is time that they be released."

BP had asked the groups involved not to call the press conferences, which are going on all across the Gulf Coast, Smith said.

"We are tired of waiting," Smith said. "We will not no longer sit on the sidelines allowing them to continue to defy what is deserving to these local churches and small business people. ... They've been asking us for three months to wait. Wait means never and that's why we are calling this press conference today."

Claire Aronson, Manatee County reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7024. Follow her on Twitter@Claire_Aronson.

This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 6:28 PM with the headline "Manatee Commissioner Charles Smith demands BP pay unpaid claims ."