It Figures

$205 Million

The amount the state of Vermont has finally received in a lawsuit against accounts for an insurance company that went bankrupt a quarter century ago and left about 20,000 people in several states with outstanding claims. The announcement should bring to a close a long-running battle by state regulators to collect from PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm for the defunct Ambassador Insurance Co., said Paulette Thabault, commissioner of the state Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration. Ambassador, which was incorporated in Vermont but headquartered in New Jersey, operated in seven states. It had about 7,000 policyholders in Vermont when it went bankrupt in 1983. Vermonters already have received 86 percent of the money they were owed under settlements reached several years ago. Some of the $205 million will go to guaranty and reinsurance funds.

$312,500

Amount to be paid by three companies allegedly responsible for spilling about 18,000 gallons of fuel oil into the Chelsea River and Mill Creek in Revere in Massachusetts. The oil was released in 2006 from a pipeline that was under repair on a fuel loading dock that is jointly owned and operated by Irving Oil Corp., Irving Oil Terminals and Global Petroleum Corp. Officials said the spill could have been avoided if the companies had communicated with each other before the repair work and closed valves that would have restricted oil flow through the open pipeline. The money will be paid to the Natural Resource Damages Trust.

$55,000

The unusually high amount expended by the head of New Jersey’s Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau on a state credit card for travel, meals and chocolates, over a 21-month period, according to auditors. Executive Director Grover Czech says all the expenses were legitimate. Czech also says chocolates, lollipops and Halloween candy were for employee morale.

15

Percentage drop in workplace fatalities in Virginia last year. The Virginia Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries reported 141 on-the-job fatalities for last year compared to 165 the year before. It’s the lowest total since 1995. Nationally, 5,488 work-related fatalities were recorded last year, down from 5,840 the year before. The 2007 number was the lowest national total since the yearly census began in 1992.

Topics Energy Oil Gas Vermont