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Enron Mail |
The following procedures have been developed by Walt, Mike and myself for the
Environmental matters associated with the Texas New Mexico Pipeline System. Please pay special attention to Item No. 5 which is not only a change in procedure but also a huge cost savings to EOTT. We had a good visit last Thursday with the carrier. The local representative and our New York claim representative were present. We were told repeatedly that filing timely information and claim notification was required. We tempered their nice but stern stance with their own internal issues regarding the change in our local representative. All was friendly. The bullet point review of the meeting's discussions is as follows and there are several procedural points that we will adopt going forward: Expense reporting on the known and unknown sites will be filed monthly and the invoices will be provided also at that time. ( providing the invoices with the report is a change in the procedure). I believe that I will be able to pull the report information off of EMS Works going forward. Please let me know who in the organization will be responsible for getting the invoices together so I can coordinate this process with them. Invoices from our vendors need to be more descriptive. Rich was in the meeting when this was discussed and I have asked him to take this matter up with our vendors. In the field, if you see that the description is weak, ( for instance, "per work order") it would be helpful for you to contact the vendor then as opposed to sending it through the payment process. If it is not descriptive enough to identify the work performed, payment will be delayed and claims processing will be slowed. This enhancement would also seem to help us internally identify the expense. When we are notified of a claim, be it land owner notification of an old site, or a new spill, a spill/claim report should be filed. I believe that this is the information that I will be receiving from EMS Works. If it is an issue that requires special handling, I will be happy to take this information directly and outside the normal channels. One area that will need to be addressed is an estimate of claim size with each report...and an update of that information as the claim matures if it changes materially. I am not clear if this information will be available in EMS Works or not. Can someone get back to me on this process? As reports or correspondence from agencies/any third party are received, we will need to forward these on to the carrier for each claim that has been filed. Also, I will need to forward to the carrier any reports or correspondence that we submit to agencies and third parties. The carrier does not want to have to come to our offices to review files if it can be avoided and would prefer to process these claims as they mature. As you forward these items to me for processing, please be sure that they are clearly identifiable as to the site/claim number. Any new claim ( that would mean any unknown) will be noticed to the carrier. Before dispatching anyone from Entrix ( unless this is an emergency situation), we will notice the carrier and they will authorize the investigation by Entrix or any other environmental consultant. The carrier has the right to choose who they use, however Entrix is one of their approved vendors. I understand that Entrix charges us a fee for these investigations and this is a covered expense under the policy. This will also aid in the processing of the claim as the carrier will accept their requested Entrix report as their own investigative report. These charges will be paid by the carrier, but they need to have the claim verified and then we need to have them dispatch Entrix to the site. I also suspect that the fee that we have been charged by Entrix for these matters is in excess of the fee that the carrier pays. Therefore it is even more critical that we have the carrier engage Entrix and pay them. There are as I understand 38 task orders ( estimated to be $10,000/each) currently outstanding with Entrix. I have a copy of these and I would like to process these through the carrier where we have not already incurred any expense. Who can visit with me on the actual status of any work performance under these orders? We will need to calculate work performed and get immediate authorization from the carrier to have Entrix provide the service going forward for each site. Lawsuits and paper work will be noticed to me by Legal. As far as the action items on current updated claims: Roger Pennifill, the technical claim handler for AIG, was in our offices Thursday and Friday and with the assistance of Mike Kelly reviewed the files and talked with the field personnel as needed. The situation with Jimmie Cooper lawsuit is the top priority with the carrier. Cynthia Green will get back to me within a day or so to give me feedback on the requests that we have made to authorize the fingerprinting of the crude oil in the Cooper's well. This matter takes precedence over the filing an answer on the lawsuit. Walt Zimmerman will work with Cynthia Green on the selection of counsel for this matter. Unless the carrier tells us otherwise Paul Bohannon will continue to act as lead counsel for this matter. Walt will provide Cynthia Green with resumes for Paul Bohannon and the local counsel that has been suggested. The second highest priority is Jay Anthony. We have given Cynthia and Roger a complete write up on this situation and they will be coming back to us to discuss the options that we have laid in front of them. All other claims that we discussed, will be handled as their official notification of a claim or an update as to the magnitude of the potential problem. In the area of site investigation (Example Clay Osborne), we will formally ask that Entrix be approved to do the necessary investigative work.
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