For Immediate Release: Groups Echo Urgency for Gulf Restoration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Elizabeth Skree, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, eskree@edf.org
Lacey McCormick, National Wildlife Federation, 512.610.7765, mccormick@nwf.org
Erin Greeson, National Audubon Society, 503.913.8978, egreeson@audubon.org
Andrew Blejwas, The Nature Conservancy, 617.785.7047, ablejwas@tnc.org
John Wark, Ocean Conservancy, 850.321.6490, johntwark@gmail.com
Mary Babic, Oxfam America, 617.517.9475, mbabic@oxfamamerica.org

GROUPS ECHO URGENCY FOR GULF RESTORATION

Senators urge Council to accelerate restoration projects  

(Washington, D.C. – July 29, 2014) Following a hearing this morning in the Senate Commerce Committee, groups working on environmental and economic restoration in the Gulf issued the following statement:

“The communities and ecosystems of the Gulf have waited long enough for meaningful restoration. Next year we mark the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the fifth anniversary of the start of the oil spill.

“We appreciate the oversight by the Senate Commerce Committee and Gulf Coast Senators and agree with the major points echoed by Sens. Landrieu, Nelson, Rubio, Vitter, Wicker and Boxer, on the RESTORE Act. First, the Senators made clear that they expect the RESTORE Council to follow the statute’s clear direction to use its allocation – also known as Pot Two – to restore the Gulf ecosystem and not stray from that focus. Second, the Senators and witnesses also stressed the need to speed up the pace to get money on the ground to start moving forward with Gulf restoration.

“We look forward to continue working with the RESTORE Council to get money on the ground for meaningful restoration.”

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