The Metro Council will hold a special meeting Wednesday to discuss, among other things, the proposed settlement from BP for economic losses suffered in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill. In recent days, local governments throughout the Gulf Coast region have accepted settlement offers from BP made, specifically, to compensate for economic losses.
Because of a gag order in the case, city-parish officials are not at liberty to discuss the negotiations. However, according to the claims filing it made several years ago, East Baton Rouge says it suffered economic losses “due to a decline in leisure, commercial, domestic, and international tourism, which further resulted in a decline in taxes collected from the sale of goods and services dependent upon these travelers. … The City’s petrochemical businesses also suffered a decline as well.”
It’s unclear how much the city-parish stands to gain. The city of New Orleans last week agreed to a $45 million settlement, while Jefferson Parish agreed to $53 million. The cities of Kenner and Mandeville will receive $9 million and $2.1 million respectively. Also last week, Visit Baton Rouge agreed to a final $65,000 settlement offer, bringing to approximately $1.4 million the tourism promotion agency has received in spill funds from BP.
Baton Rouge, because it is so much farther from the coast than cities in the Greater New Orleans area, will likely not receive anywhere near as much as New Orleans or Jefferson Parish, says Metro Councilman Buddy Amoroso, who refused to sign the gag order and has therefore not been privy to negotiations but is able to speak about the matter.
Amoroso says whatever settlement the city-parish accepts, the more interesting issue will be what it decides to do with the money, which comes with no strings attached. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, for instance, says New Orleans will use its money for “resiliency programs” dealing with coastal sustainability. Amoroso suggests Baton Rouge put its settlement funds towards infrastructure needs.
“Let’s use it for roads and bridges,” he says. “We should spend it on things that will have a positive impact on this area long term.”
Also at Wednesday’s special meeting, the council is expected to authorize the administration to execute a $2.7 million grant agreement with the Federal Transit Administration to fund the Nicholson Corridor High Capacity Transit System Plan. The funds will be used for initial design and planning work for the three-mile streetcar.
The Council meets at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the Metro Council chambers on the third floor of the Governmental Building, 222 St. Louis St. See the full agenda.
—Stephanie Riegel
