Signed, sealed, delivered: 133,501 petitions to #makeBPpay
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By Ryan Rastegar and Elizabeth Skree, Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign Today, staff from Environmental Defense Fund, National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society and Earthworks hand delivered 133,501 petitions to the U.S. Department of Justice, urging them to hold BP accountable to the fullest extent of the law for the 2010 gulf oil disaster. You can see a Facebook photo album from the event by clicking the photo below. Almost three years after the BP oil disaster, the question around …
BP Oil Disaster: More than 133,000 voices for the gulf
Nearly three years after the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, the mystery of BP’s Clean Water Act fines is about to come to a close. With a February 25 trial date looming, BP and the U.S. Department of Justice will either reach a settlement or go to trial within the next two weeks. Among its numerous violations, BP is accountable for upwards of $21 billion in civil Clean Water Act fines. Thanks to last year’s bipartisan RESTORE Act, this money will …
Path Forward plan must focus on ecosystem restoration
By Whit Remer, Policy Analyst, Environmental Defense Fund The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council recently released “The Path Forward to Restoring the Gulf Coast: A Proposed Comprehensive Plan.” The RESTORE Act, signed into law in July, required the newly created Restoration Council to publish a Proposed Plan within six months of the legislation becoming law. Only six pages in length, the Path Forward provides a general framework for the Restoration Council to follow while developing their more robust Initial Comprehensive …
Tagged Economics, ReportsBP Oil Spill: 1,000 Days Later
It’s been exactly 1,000 days since the BP-operated oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, gushing millions of barrels of crude oil into a body of water that supports countless ecosystems and economies. Below is a timeline of major events that have occurred in the last 1,000 days. Tell BP to stop stalling, take responsibility, and pay the maximum Clean Water Act fines for which they are liable — now! Sources: – Restorethegulf.org, “First oiled bird is recovered.” – …
Tagged EconomicsGulf Restoration Groups Praise Historic Settlement for Oil Spill
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Gulf Restoration Groups Praise Historic Settlement for Oil Spill Transocean penalties a step forward for unprecedented restoration efforts (WASHINGTON, DC) Gulf restoration and economic development groups lauded the announcement today from the Department of Justice that it has reached an historic settlement with Transocean for its role in the 2010 Gulf oil spill. Today’s $1.4 billion settlement will be paid under the Clean Water Act for civil and criminal penalties. A significant portion of those funds will …
Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council Convenes for First Time, Discusses Restoration Plan
By Whit Remer, Policy Analyst, Environmental Defense Fund Last week, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council held its first public meeting in Mobile, Ala. to update residents on the progress of implementing the RESTORE Act. The law, which Congress passed in June 2012, dedicates 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the BP oil spill back to the Gulf Coast for restoration. Those fines, expected to reach billions of dollars, will help stabilize and revive troubled ecosystems across the …
SMART Solutions for Restoration: The Second Summit on Coastal Restoration in Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes
By Maura Wood, National Wildlife Federation On Oct. 31, 2012, Garret Graves, director of Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), spoke at the Second Summit on Coastal Restoration in Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes held at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La. At the time, summit attendees were unaware of the proposed settlement on criminal penalties against BP for oil spill damages that would designate a sizable portion of these funds over the next five years to river diversions and …
What the BP criminal settlement means for Gulf Coast restoration
By Whit Remer, Policy Analyst, Environmental Defense Fund Just in time for the holidays, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) delivered welcomed and unexpected good news for Gulf Coast restoration efforts. On November 15, DOJ announced they had reached a settlement with BP on all criminal charges related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. But what was expected to be a simple press conference outlining the details of the criminal plea agreement turned out to be a huge $2.4 …
A Look at the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force’s Science Coordination Team
By Alisha Renfro, Ph.D., Staff Scientist, National Wildlife Federation In the aftermath of the BP oil disaster, President Obama created the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force through an executive order in October 2010. The mission of this Environmental Protection Agency-led group was to develop a long-term, holistic and science-based ecosystem restoration plan for the Gulf Coast. Included in this effort was the Science Coordination Team which involved more than 70 scientists from federal and state agencies who provided scientific …
Tagged ReportsEnvironmental Groups Praise Historic Criminal Settlement
CONTACTS: Elizabeth Skree, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, eskree@edf.org Erin Greeson, National Audubon Society, 503.913.8978, egreeson@audubon.org Lacey McCormick, National Wildlife Federation, 512.203.3016, mccormick@nwf.org Scott Madere, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, 225.767.4181, scottm@crcl.org John Lopez, Lake Pontchartrain Basin, 604.421.7348, johnlopez@pobox.com Environmental Groups Praise Historic Criminal Settlement Using BP criminal penalties for restoration a step forward to unprecedented civil fines Leading conservation groups praised the Department of Justice for reaching a historic $4.5 billion settlement on the criminal charges stemming from the 2010 BP oil disaster. This settlement will send $1.2 billion to coastal Louisiana restoration projects with an …
Video: Postcards from New Orleans: Hope for the Northeast
By Elizabeth Skree, Environmental Defense Fund If anyone can sympathize with the Northeast as it recovers from Hurricane Sandy, it’s the residents of New Orleans. I found this out firsthand on recent trip to Louisiana. httpv://youtu.be/mLuI4g00WAE While Hurricane Sandy battered the Northeast, I was in South Louisiana with Environmental Defense Fund’s Creative Director, Nicole Possin, working on a video about wetlands restoration in the Mississippi River Delta. We’d planned the trip long before we knew about Sandy, and the irony …
Oil spill trustees unveil second round of early gulf restoration projects
By Whit Remer, Policy Analyst, Environmental Defense Fund Today, Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Trustees from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident announced two additional early NRDA restoration projects. The NRDA Trustees include representatives from the five Gulf Coast states and four federal agencies who are charged with assessing damage to natural resources, such as marshes, sea grasses, birds, and marine mammals, caused by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In April 2012, the Deepwater Horizon NRDA Trustees finalized the …
On Clean Water Act anniversary, groups demand BP pay up for gulf oil spill
By Ryan Rastegar, Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign Coordinator Today marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Clean Water Act! In effect since October 18, 1972, this federal law prevents the releasing of toxic substances into our waters. The enforcement of this law is fundamentally important, not just to the people, wildlife and birds of the Mississippi River Delta, but to the entire country that depends on clean, healthy waters. In the summer of 2010, BP and other responsible …
The Power of We: The Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign
By Happy Johnson, Amanda Moore and Elizabeth Skree Our Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign works to reconnect the Mississippi River to its delta to protect people, wildlife and jobs. At our core, we are the “Power of We”: a coalition of five national and local non-governmental organizations — the National Audubon Society, Environmental Defense Fund, National Wildlife Federation, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation — working together to save a national treasure: the Mississippi River Delta. The …
Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign launches petition to hold BP accountable
Since the devastating 2010 BP oil disaster, we’ve been working to send some well-deserved funds to the gulf. For over two years, we worked with leaders in Congress on a bill that would do just that. After a long battle, we finally helped pass the RESTORE Act in July 2012, which set up the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund to deliver 80 percent of the Clean Water Act penalty money from BP back to the gulf. Unfortunately, over two years after the …