BP Fund for Oil-Rig Workers Attracts Few Applicants

So few people have applied for aid from a $100-million charity BP set up to aid Gulf Coast oil workers that the organization now plans to expand its grant making to aid a range of other workers, the Associated Press reports.

Only 356 people have signed up for aid BP provided to help workers on deepwater oil rigs get through the drilling moratorium prompted by the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Up to 9,000 people had been expected to apply for grants of $3,000 to $30,000 offered to employees on the 33 rigs affected by the drilling halt. With so much money left over, the Gulf Coast Restoration and Protection Foundation, the charity running the program, plans to offer a second round of grants to drilling support workers, such as helicopter pilots and supply-boat staffs.

The foundation said many rig workers have been kept on the job by their employers, despite the moratorium. A big hiring push to expand Gulf cleanup crews has also offset some of the economic harm caused by the drilling ban.

(Free registration is required to read this story on the Washington Post Web site.)