Peer review: Louisiana is asking a federal judge to order a separate jury trial against BP over the $1 billion in economic oil-spill losses that the state claims BP has stopped paying, Bloomberg reports. Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell asked a federal judge in New Orleans to make an exception that would allow the state to proceed with a solo trial over economic losses it suffered as a result of BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Economic losses include claims for lost tax revenue, royalties and fees in more than a dozen categories. Read the full story here.
Hidden loss: The environmental group Greenpeace is raising new questions about why it took the federal government more than two years to release information about a dead sperm whale that was discovered during the BP oil spill, The Times-Picayune reports. The 26-foot juvenile whale, an endangered species, was discovered by a NOAA research vessel about 77 miles from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Greenpeace officials learned of it in September, when the government finally responded to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Greenpeace in June 2010. Read the full story here.
Fewer than two weeks to decide: BRAC’s political action committee, FuturePAC, today announced its endorsement of a transportation infrastructure tax on the Nov. 6 ballot in Ascension Parish designed to address growing traffic congestion, as well as an economic development tax that voters will take up in West Feliciana Parish. Daily Report is compiling a list of endorsements for candidates in the East Baton Rouge Parish mayoral, Public Service Commission District 2 and Louisiana Supreme Court 5th District races. You can check it out here; and if your association or organization has an endorsement in one of these races you’d like to share, please email it to ssanoski@businessreport.com.
