This week, I am pleased to join 23 of my colleagues across the Gulf Coast region in introducing legislation that will dedicate the fines paid by the responsible parties for last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill to the Gulf Coast states. Our legislation requires that 80 percent of the money paid by the responsible parties, estimated between $5 billion and $21 billion, comes back to the states affected by the spill, providing for the economic and environmental restoration we so greatly need.
The Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economy of the Gulf Coast Act of 2011 (the “RESTORE” Act) is a comprehensive piece of legislation that comprises previous bills offered by myself and others to bring the fine money back to Florida and the Gulf Coast region. As you know, last April’s spill effectively shut down our tourism and damaged our local economy for the better part of a year, and it may be years before we know the spill’s full effects on our environment. Ultimately, the responsible parties will pay fines levied by the U.S. Justice Department based on the amount of oil spilled into the Gulf. Without legislation in place directing those fines back to the affected states, this money would go directly to the U.S. Treasury Department for use on other government programs.
In April, I offered a bill to take part of the fines and return it to the five affected states for economic restoration and tourism promotion (H.R. 1333). The RESTORE Act introduced this week incorporates many of the proposals in H.R. 1333, as well as ideas from Members of Congress across the coastal delegation. In the end, we took our time to develop legislation that stood the best chance of passage in Congress and met the needs of each of the Gulf Coast states.
The RESTORE Act includes several mechanisms for dividing the fines paid by the responsible parties to the states equitably based on the effects of the oil spill on each state. There are essentially four categories of funding. The first category, or 35 percent of the total, is divided equally among the five states (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas) for use in economic restoration, environmental recovery, and tourism promotion. The second category, or 30 percent, is administered by a task force comprised of state and federal officials as part of a comprehensive environmental plan for the entire Gulf Coast. The third category, or another 30 percent, is provided to the states based on a weighted formula of population, coastline, and distance from the spill, and can be used for both economic and environmental restoration. The final category, or 5 percent, is dedicated to developing a Gulf Coast research and science program to promote Gulf protection, fisheries, and energy resources.
The Senate has introduced a similar bill, S. 1400, which also dedicates 80 percent of the fine monies to the Gulf Coast. Our bill is similar in nature, but we took several steps to improve what the Senate offered and make it more palatable to the House of Representatives and better for Florida. First, our bill provides the states much more flexibility to use the fine money for both economic and environmental restoration. Florida suffered devastating economic consequences after the spill while Louisiana had far worse environmental effects. Under our bill, each state will be able to use the fine money as best suited to meet either economic or environmental concerns. Second, the House bill gives Florida in particular much more local control over the ultimate plan developed for our state, allowing the eight affected counties (Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf, Franklin and Wakulla) to have a tremendous amount of influence over the direction of restoration in Florida.
Finally, our bill puts some strict limitations on the power of the federal government in the restoration process.
Administrative expenses for executive agencies have been capped at 3 percent, and NOAA may not use any of the research dollars on existing programs or to implement catch share programs. Additionally, none of the funds may be used by the federal government to purchase land.
Overall, the House version of the RESTORE Act is a sensible piece of legislation that is business-friendly and good for the State of Florida, as well as for the entire Gulf Coast. Recent statements by Gulf Coast Senators that their version of the bill must pass as-is or else are little more than the “my way or the highway” attitude that has unfortunately become pervasive in Washington. I would urge my colleagues in the upper chamber to tone down the rhetoric and work with their House counterparts to pass legislation in both chambers that can be presented to the President and signed into law.
The RESTORE Act is another step in our efforts to force BP and the other responsible parties to restore the Gulf Coast economically and environmentally after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. I look forward to seeing this bill move through the committee process and brought to the House floor for passage. Ultimately, it is the Gulf Coast states, like Florida, that were damaged by the oil spill, and the fines paid should be returned to those states to restore our economy and our ecosystem.
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