Latest news: June 18, 2012
Restore Act options needed: An editorial
The Times-Picayune (New Orleans). June 17, 2012.
“Congress has a June 30 deadline to pass a transportation spending bill, and the Restore Act, which would send most of the fines from the BP spill to the Gulf Coast states, is riding on that legislation…” (Read more)
Gulf Coast deserves piece of penalties from oil spill
By Michael C. Bolton for the Press-Register (Mobile, Ala.). June 17, 2012.
“Have you ever seen one of those cash giveaway machines that radio stations use at live remotes?
Someone is chosen to step into a Plexiglas booth filled with money. High-speed fans begin blowing paper money everywhere. The person gets to keep all they can grab in 30 seconds. It is a cash grab extraordinaire…” (Read more)
RESTORE legislation set to overcome 2010 oil spill
By Dave Rainer for the Wetumpka (Ala.) Herald. June 16, 2012.
“Many people along the Gulf Coast are not likely familiar with the RESTORE Act, a part of the transportation bill that is currently being debated in Congress. Yet, there is a group of people who consider RESTORE legislation the best vehicle to overcome the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 by directing the majority of the penalties assessed to BP and other affected parties to the Gulf area…” (Read more)
Coast money is stalled in Congress
By Nikki Buskey, The Daily Comet (Lafourche Parish, La.). June 15, 2012.
“A amendment that would dedicate billions of dollars in oil-spill fines to the Gulf Coast for restoration is stalled in committee while Democrats and Republicans hash out their differences over a controversial transportation bill…” (Read more)
Some oysters not regrowing post-spill
By Nikki Buskey, The Houma (La.) Courier. June 17, 2012.
“It’s been two years since more than half of the state’s oyster grounds were wiped out during the BP oil spill, and oysters in some of Louisiana’s most important harvest areas aren’t coming back…” (Read more)
Program will connect local jobs to coastal projects
By Jeremy Alford, The Houma Courier. June 14, 2012.
“BATON ROUGE — Beginning Aug. 1, contractors overseeing major developments along the coast will be required to take steps to bring on local workers to complete their projects if they’re paid using certain state or federal monies…” (Read more)
RESTORE Act Would Boost Gulf Coast Fisheries
By Michael Conathan, The Center for American Progress. June 15, 2012.
“Congressional partisanship has led to so much inaction that even two years after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico—the largest oil spill the United States has ever seen—Congress has yet to enact a single piece of legislation to change how we manage offshore oil and gas exploration, respond to the inevitable oil spills that result from such activities, or penalize those responsible. But there is some hope on the horizon for the Gulf Coast and, by extension, its fisheries: the RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act…” (Read more)