Billions headed to Gulf Coast with passage of RESTORE Act

RESTORE Act legislation, which will direct billions of dollars in BP oil spill fines to Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states, was approved today by Congress. Specifically, the act will direct 80% of all Clean Water Act fines paid by BP to Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi and Florida for economic and environmental restoration efforts. The federal government is still negotiating with the companies responsible for the spill on the exact amount of the fines, but estimates are running somewhere between $5 billion and $21 billion total. The legislation will now make its way to President Barack Obama’s desk, with the president expected to sign it soon. All of Louisiana’s congressional delegates voted for the bill. “This is a huge step toward vital, long-overdue coastal restoration work along the Gulf Coast in Louisiana and our neighboring states,” Sen. David Vitter, an original co-sponsor of the bill, says in a news release applauding its passage. Gov. Bobby Jindal recently signed into Louisiana law Act 805, which directs all funding that the state receives from the RESTORE Act to the recently crafted 2012 Coastal Master Plan, a comprehensive plan for future coastal investments in Louisiana. The RESTORE Act was approved as part of a larger package of legislation addressing transportation and highway funds, flood insurance and preventing an increase in student loan interest rates.