NEW ORLEANS — BP’s decision to resume paying dividends rankled Gulf Coast residents Tuesday who saw it as another sign the company wants to move on even though many are still suffering from last year’s massive oil spill.
Oil stains linger in marshes along Louisiana’s fragile coast, and tens of thousands of victims are waiting for final payments from a $20 billion compensation fund, while a large number of people haven’t received any money.
The 7 cents per ordinary share payable to BP shareholders March 28, or about $1.25 billion overall, isn’t a lot by BP’s standards — it’s half what the company paid investors for the final quarter of 2009 — but gulf residents frowned on the idea of going back to business as usual.
“BP has so much money that we can’t really fathom it, but BP has to take care of its obligations to us,” said Pass Christian, Miss., shrimper Bobby Barnett. The Associated Press
