On BP Oil Disaster Anniversary, Groups Urge Congress to Use Fines to Restore Gulf Environment and Economy

An oil-soaked brown pelican washes ashore on Grand Isle, Louisiana (May 21, 2010). Photo credit: Yuki Kokubo, www.yukikokubo.net

On the first anniversary of the BP oil well blowout, regional and national leaders urged Congress to hold BP accountable by passing legislation to dedicate BP’s Clean Water Act (CWA) fines to restoring the Gulf’s damaged environment and economy.

Under current law, fines paid by BP and others responsible for the spill automatically will be deposited into the Federal Treasury, instead of being used to help restore the Gulf region.

U.S. Senators Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and David Vitter (R-La.), Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) have introduced four separate bills that would dedicate 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines to restore the Gulf Coast’s environment and economy.

“These members of Congress deserve credit for recognizing that BP’s fines for the oil spill should be invested in restoring the Gulf, where the damage was done, not in the Federal Treasury,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation.  “The environment and economy of the Gulf region rely on each other to be strong and vibrant.  We’re calling on leaders in Congress, particularly from the Gulf region, to get together and get restoration done for the Gulf.”

The anniversary event featured a boat tour to show oil spill damage in Barataria Bay and Bay Jimmy and aerial tours of Wax Lake Delta, which shows that rebuilding wetlands is possible.  The Wax Lake Delta is the unexpected creation of a 1941 flood control project in which the Army Corps of Engineers dug a canal to Atchafalaya Bay from the Atchafalaya River.  As a result, the Atchafalaya River sediment built 25 square miles of new land in the Wax Lake Outlet.

“The Gulf is injured certainly, and will be for some time, but it is not without the possibility of recovery in the long term” said Chris Canfield, vice president of Gulf Coast Conservation and the Mississippi Flyway for the National Audubon Society.  “If we can marshal the energy of fear and concern we all felt a year ago and turn it into resolve – into a Congressional mandate for Gulf restoration – we can do wonders.”

Nearly nine out of 10 poll respondents (87%) across the five Gulf states agree that the environmental health of the Gulf Coast region affects their state’s economy very much or somewhat.  (Lake Research Partners and Bellwether Research and Consulting)

“Without a strong and shared vision by our regional congressional delegations to dedicate fines to the Gulf Coast states, fine monies will wash away into the Federal Treasury,” said Anne Milling, founder of Women of the Storm.  “We thank Representatives Scalise and Castor and Senators Landrieu, Vitter and Nelson for their bipartisan unity on this crucial issue, and we encourage other members of Congress to follow their example.”

Environmental degradation has caused tremendous damage to the Gulf ecosystems in recent decades.  The region has lost nearly 50 percent of its wetlands, 60 percent of its sea grass beds, 50 percent of its oyster reefs, and more than 32 percent of its mangrove forests.  (The Nature Conservancy)

“Given our huge budget deficit, Clean Water Act fines are the most viable, short-term funding mechanism for the long-term restoration of the Gulf Coast that President Obama promised ten months ago ‘to restore the unique beauty and bounty of this region’,” said Paul Harrison, senior director of the Mississippi River Delta Restoration Project for Environmental Defense Fund.  “Congress must hold BP accountable for the environmental and economic damage it caused from the worst oil spill in U.S. history by dedicating the Clean Water Act fines to Gulf Coast restoration and ensuring BP pays the bill for the Natural Resources Damage Assessment.”