BLITZER: And joining us now from Mobile, Alabama, is Kenneth Feinberg. He is the administrator of the independent claims facility that has risen out of this disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Ken Feinberg, thanks very much for joining us.

KENNETH FEINBERG, OIL CLAIMS ADMINISTRATOR: Thank you.

BLITZER: There has been a little confusion about lawsuits down the road. If people accept payment from BP out of the initial $20 billion compensation fund, do they forego their ability down the road to file lawsuits against BP?

FEINBERG: First of all, it is not BP that is paying these claims, it is the independent administrator, myself.

BLITZER: But the money comes from BP.

FEINBERG: BP and the administrator. That is correct, out of the escrow account. Now, any emergency payments that are paid in the next few weeks are paid on an emergency basis to any eligible claimant, and those claimants do not forego their right to litigate down the road. If at some point in the next 60 or 90 days, they are offered a lump sum final settlement at that point, they will voluntarily decide whether to litigate or to take the money and refuse to litigate, just like the 9/11 fund, Wolf, that you know so much about.

BLITZER: Because you administered those funds as well. If people accepted a lump sum for the loss, they then decided they forego their right to go ahead and file separate lawsuits to try to collect more money, and that is the same basically with the exception of the next 30 or 60 or 90 days during this emergency period. Down the road, they won't be able to file lawsuits if they get a lump sum.

FEINBERG: That is right. But don't forget as you know better than most, 97 percent of all of the eligible death claims in 9/11 came into the fund, only 94 people, 94, decided to sue. I hope we have that same ratio or better with this fund here in the gulf.

BLITZER: Because you are hoping these folks won't file lawsuits because the lawyers will make money, and with all due respect to lawyers, I know you are a lawyer yourself and it could drag on for years and years. You think that these people would be better taking the money and then forgetting about the lawsuits.

FEINBERG: That is right. And it is purely voluntary. The emergency payments that we are paying out right now, Governor Riley urged me to get the money out quickly here in Alabama. Those emergency payments do not require that anybody elect not to sue. That will be down the road.

BLITZER: The long-term compensation, the lump sums as you call them down the road, how will that be determined? Let's say there is a shrimper, there's a fisherman whose business is going to die for the next several decades until this thing is cleaned up, will you provide the money over these years and years that he or she could have made if the business had been prosperous without this disaster?

FEINBERG: Under your hypothetical the answer is yes. The shrimper will come into the claim fund, this independent facility. First we will give that shrimper emergency payments to get through the next 30, 60 days without any obligation. The money is theirs if it is corroborated and it's an eligible claim under your hypothetical. Then we will sit with the shrimper, we'll come up with a lump sum payment and determine the long term destruction of his business or her business, cut a check. If the shrimper wants the check, they will relinquish the right to sue. Here is the check. If they don't, they can go and litigate as long as they'd like.

BLITZER: We know that the 9/11 compensation work lasted a few years. You resolved the whole thing and you got really good grades for that. How long do you think that this process is going to go on? Months, years? What is your estimate before the money dries up?

FEINBERG: Well, a couple of things. First of all, it would be nice to know that the oil stopped flowing. It is a little hard to have a cutoff date if there's still an ongoing problem in the gulf. I would hope that we would be able to resolve these claims roughly in the same time period as the 9/11 fund, three years, maybe four years, and that remains to be seen. Don't forget if the $20 billion is insufficient, maybe it won't be, but if it is, both the administration and BP have agreed that BP will replenish the fund as needed in order to pay all of the eligible claims.

BLITZER: So it could be a lot more than $20 billion.

FEINBERG: Theoretically, it could be, but that remains to be seen.

BLITZER: Depending upon how much of a demand there is, how many claims there are. Do you have the staff right now, Ken Feinberg, to get this enormous job done? FEINBERG: No. We will want to build -- we want to build up a greater staff. Let me say, Wolf, BP deserves a good deal of credit here for setting up this original claims process. I'm not like -- with 9/11, I am not starting from scratch. BP has done a pretty good job across the gulf in talking to the various governors in the gulf, they give BP some credit for what has been done. But I think that we have to supplement that staff with my own people, independent, not beholding to anybody to build up that process and get these claims resolved quicker and more effectively than have been to date.

BLITZER: All right. Ken Feinberg, good luck. You have an enormous challenge ahead of you, and we wish you only, only success.

FEINBERG: Thanks, Wolf. Thanks very, very much.