Latest Mississippi River Delta news: March 21, 2013
Coast reclamation advocates warn fight over how to spend BP fines far from over
By Bob Marshall, The Lens. March 20, 2013.
“As lawyers battle in federal court to determine how many billions in fines BP and its partners owe for damages caused by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, Louisiana coastal advocates are being urged to get involved in an equally important fight already underway outside the courtroom…” (read more)
Coastal states want more offshore drilling revenue
By Andrew Restuccia, Politico. March 21, 2013.
“Sens. Mary Landrieu and Lisa Murkowski expressed confidence on Wednesday that their legislation to funnel more royalties from offshore energy production to coastal states can win congressional approval…” (read more)
Claims against BP contractors dismissed at trial
By Michael Kunzelman, Associated Press. March 20, 2013.
“NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge conducting a trial to assign fault for the nation’s worst offshore oil spill dismissed claims Wednesday against a BP contractor and the company that made a key safety device on the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, triggering the disaster…” (read more)
Modernization of flood insurance risk assessments, ending of mandatory policies behind levees recommended
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune. March 20, 2013.
“The National Flood Insurance Program should adopt new and more modern methods of analyzing and managing the risk of flooding behind levees, concludes a new report from the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. Such an approach would help the agency better explain that risk to public officials and the general public, and would make it more likely that they would both buy flood insurance and adopt new methods to reduce the risk…” (read more)
BP accused of rewriting environmental record on Wikipedia
By Violet Blue, CNET. March 20, 2013.
“Oil giant British Petroleum is well-known for the Deepwater Oil Horizon disaster and its much-criticized handling of the cleanup’s aftermath. But you might want to think twice before you read about the event, or the company’s environmental record, on Wikipedia…” (read more)
Offshore revenue sharing bill filed
By Jordan Blum, The (Baton Rogue) Advocate. March 21, 2013.
“WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., introduced her new FAIR Act bill on Wednesday to expedite and increase the revenue sharing of offshore oil-and-gas production with Louisiana and other coastal states…” (read more)
Louisiana’s infrastructure ranks C- for poor roads, dams, drinking water systems
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune. March 19, 2013.
“A scorecard released Tuesday by the American Society of Civil Engineers gave Louisiana a C- for the quality of its infrastructure, after finding that 62 percent of the state’s roads were of mediocre to poor condition, 3,815 bridges were structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, 33 dams were considered “high hazard,” and drinking water and wastewater systems will need $10.9 billion in improvements during the next 20 years…” (read more)