Gulf Coast Claims Facility Administrator Kenneth R. Feinberg today announced the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) is fully functioning and will begin to process claims for emergency payment. All individual and business claims and supporting documentation have been transferred from BP to the GCCF, which is an independent facility run by Feinberg.

The GCCF was established in June as part of an agreement between the Obama Administration and BP to assist claimants in filing claims for costs and damages incurred as a result of the oil spill stemming from the Deepwater Horizon Incident of April 20, 2010. Claims previously filed with the BP Claims Process have been transitioned to the new GCCF Claims Facility for review, evaluation and determination, however claimants will be required to file new forms with the GCCF to receive payments.

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The BP - Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast has become an environmental and economic disaster for the Mississippi River Delta. The residents of Florida’s Panhandle beaches and tourism related businesses are weary as the oil has been flowing for over a month.

Florida Tourism Businesses Affected by Deepwater Horizon Accident

Florida tourism businesses have already been affected by the Gulf oil spill because many travelers have canceled their summer vacations in Florida, while others who would normally begin making plans for their Florida getaways are still on the fence or worse, making plans for travel to places in South Carolina and Georgia. As of yet, no oil has affected Florida beaches and hopes remain high that there will be minimal damage to our natural resources here.
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Juno Beach, FL - A climate change bill approved by a Senate subcommittee Thursday would reward the country’s biggest emitters of carbon dioxide and fails to provide a reliable mechanism to prevent possible massive economic damage, the head of one of the country’s largest electric power companies said today.

“I acknowledge and applaud the willingness of key senators to try and address the important issue of global climate change. Unfortunately, the bill they have proposed, if left unchanged, would reward the country’s biggest emitters of carbon dioxide with billions of dollars of free allowances that they don’t need. Moreover, the bill contains no clear ‘safety valve,’ to ensure that we don’t inadvertently damage the economy,” said Lewis Hay, III, Chairman and CEO of FPL Group Inc. (NYSE:FPL), which operates the country’s largest wind and solar power generating facilities. His comments came after a subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 4-3 to move the America’s Climate Security Act (S. 2191) to the full committee for hearings and a markup.

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West Palm Beach, FL — With today’s skyrocketing fuel prices, fuel economy is more important than ever for sport fishermen. In response to this need, Ocean Master Sportfishing Boats has launched the Ocean Skiff 27 Center Console with super fuel efficient diesel power. The standard configuration features a diesel engine mated to I/O drive to provide amazing fuel economy and long range.

Recent testing of an Ocean Skiff 27 outfitted for a European search and rescue agency yielded 9.7 mpg in real world use. This is a tremendous increase in efficiency over traditional outboard powered center consoles which often get just 1-2 mpg or less. The fuel savings can be dramatic - a whole day of fishing can be done on less than $30 of diesel fuel.

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Juno Beach, FL - Florida Power & Light Company, one of the country’s largest electric utilities, has successfully reduced its carbon emissions through effective use of energy management programs. FPL, with 4.5 million customers in Florida, is a subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc., which yesterday announced a $2.4 billion investment package to promote clean electric power from new solar energy facilities and other renewable sources, and encourage greater energy conservation.

According to Department of Energy figures, FPL was No. 1 in energy efficiency among U.S. utilities and No. 4 in managing its electricity demand. Here are some highlights of FPL’s energy management programs, which include both energy conservation and efficiency.

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