Louisiana won’t get as much in Gulf oil spill fines as officials hoped
Published: Sunday, July 08, 2012, 6:40 AM
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune
A close reading of the conference committee report outlining the compromise Restore Act approved by Congress last week shows that Louisiana won’t get as many billions in Clean Water Act fines as state leaders had hoped. Compromise language awards other states larger shares than Louisiana officials believe they deserve.
The compromise, approved as part of a wide-ranging transportation and highways funding bill and signed into law by President Barack Obama on Friday, will deliver to Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states 80 percent of any Clean Water Act fines paid by BP and other parties responsible for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The total fines could range from $5 billion to $21 billion, based on whether BP and others are found to be grossly negligent.
A year ago, Gov. Bobby Jindal said federal statistics showed coastal Louisiana had 92 percent of the shoreline that was heavily and moderately oiled by the spill. In addition, most injured, oiled and dead birds, mammals, fish and other wildlife were found off Louisiana’s coast.
The congressional compromise divides the money into three large pots, with 35 percent split equally among all five Gulf states and their coastal parishes and counties as outlined in state restoration plans; 30 percent distributed to states based on the spill’s impact along the coastline; and 30 percent to be spent on larger projects approved by a new Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, made up of one representative from each of the five coastal states and six federal agencies: Interior, Army, Commerce, Environmental Protection Agency, Agriculture and Homeland Security. The council will be chaired by one of the federal representatives, selected by a majority vote of the state representatives. The last 5 percent will be used to set up two new study programs.
Within the individual pots, the breakdown of which states get how much money is complex and still difficult to divine in some cases. Louisiana’s share of the state allocation pot will give the state government 4.9 percent of all the fine money BP and others pay, with the state’s 20 “coastal zone” parishes splitting another 2.1 percent. That share is based on a formula that awards more to parishes with more oiled shoreline and larger populations.
It’s still unclear how much money the state will get from the 30 percent of the fine money included in the second pot, the “oil spill restoration impact” allocation. Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority chairman Garret Graves expects Louisiana will receive the largest share based on the amount of its coast that was oiled. But 20 percent of the formula will be based on the population of coastal counties bordering the Gulf, which could favor Florida. Each state is guaranteed at least 5 percent of the money in the pot.
The third pot of money will set up the new Gulf council and implement a new comprehensive plan for natural resource restoration of the entire Gulf coast. That plan must look first to projects that have already been authorized, but not implemented, and which, if implemented quickly, would restore and protect coastal resources. The plan must be approved by the council chair and a majority of the state members.
Again, Louisiana is likely to benefit from this language, as a variety of federal and state restoration projects already are authorized along the state’s coast, but construction on them has not yet started.
“The council is directed to look at larger watershed-type investments,” Graves said. “If the priorities are applied appropriately, they’ll recognize that investments in Louisiana benefit the entire Gulf of Mexico: the health of Louisiana’s marshes, the health of Louisiana’s estuaries, and the fact that up to 90 percent of the freshwater that enters the Gulf comes from Louisiana rivers.”
The council’s draft plan is supposed to be published in 180 days, and is required to incorporate the findings of a coastal plan adopted by the President’s Gulf Coast Restoration Task Force in 2011. The final version of the plan is supposed to be approved within 12 months.
States will be required to adopt their own comprehensive plans outlining how their share of the money in the first pot will be spent, similar to the updated coastal master plan approved earlier this year by the Louisiana Legislature. Louisiana’s plan, however, may have to be updated to include infrastructure, economic development or seafood-promotion projects that were beyond the scope of its coastal protection and restoration mandates.
The state plans must be approved by the state representative of the Gulf council and its chair, but not by other states.
The law also requires Louisiana parishes to adopt a comprehensive land use plan and a separate plan outlining how they will spend the money. Only 10 of the 20 eligible coastal zone parishes have adopted such plans, including New Orleans and Jefferson, St. Charles and St. James parishes in this area. Plans are under development in St. Bernard, St. James, St. John the Baptist and Plaquemines parishes. The law does not require land-use plans for counties in other states.
State, parish and county projects eligible for funding include:
• Restoration and protection of natural resources, including marine and wildlife habitats, beaches and coastal wetlands; otherwise mitigating damage to natural resources; and implementing a federally approved conservation management plan, including fisheries monitoring.
• Workforce development and job creation.
• Improvements to state parks located in coastal areas affected by the spill.
• Infrastructure projects benefitting the economy or ecological resources, including port infrastructure.
• Coastal flood protection and related infrastructure.
• Activities to promote tourism and seafood, including recreational fishing and consumption of seafood harvested from the region.
States, parishes and counties will be allowed to give preference to local businesses in awarding contracts for projects. And they’ll be able to use the money as the state or local match for various federal projects, such as the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane levee now being built around Houma.
The law also sets aside 2.5 percent of the fine money to create a new Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Science, Observation, Monitoring and Technology Program. It will be under the direction of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with assistance from the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The new agency’s duties will include research and monitoring in both Gulf and coastal waters, including assessment of fisheries and development of pilot programs to generate new data sources and programs to reduce exploitation of spawning fish. Another 2.5 percent of the money will be split equally among the five Gulf states to finance “Centers of Excellence Research” grants to universities and other non-governmental agencies in Gulf states that will conduct research on a variety of coastal and deepwater issues, including wildlife, habitat, sustainable land use, offshore energy development, economic and commercial development.
Mark Schleifstein can be reached at mschleifstein@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3327.
© 2012 NOLA.com.
Special thanks to Richard Charter