PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Two oil spill compensation offices in the Florida Panhandle are closing.
The Pensacola and Panama City Beach offices of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility will close Tuesday. Offices in Fort Walton Beach and Apalachicola will remain open, as will offices farther way in Key West and Clearwater.
The claims offices opened in the wake of last year’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Pensacola News Journal reports that the Escambia County Community and Environment Division has calculated that 97 percent of oil cleaned from Florida beaches came from Escambia shorelines.
According to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, $285.2 million has been paid out to 23,057 claims filed in Escambia County as of Friday. In Santa Rosa County, $173.7 million has been paid to 12,338 claims.
Source: Pensacola News Journal, Associated Press
