Official assesses task of preserving Gulf Coast ecosystem

A White House appointee says preserving a Gulf Coast ecosystem damaged by decades of erosion and months of crude oil that gushed from a deep-sea well in the Gulf of Mexico will be an enormous undertaking. “I have been involved in many ecosystem restoration projects, but this is the grandaddy of them all,” says John Hankinson, a veteran of restoration projects in Florida. Hankinson was appointed in October as executive director of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, a group that will recommend how to use the heavy fines likely to confront energy company BP for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The White House plans to use the fines, which could potentially run to the billions of dollars, on projects to restore beaches, marshes, water quality and wildlife in coastal areas of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Louisiana lawmakers are working on legislation to make sure 80% of the potential fines will be used on restoration efforts. The restoration could include diverting freshwater from the Mississippi River into sediment-starved marshes, pumping mud to build new land, rebuilding barrier islands and planting new marsh.