Bill to bring most Clean Water Act fines from the 2010 BP spill remain stalled.
WASHINGTON -- Here's the latest in efforts by Louisiana lawmakers to pass the Restore Act, which would funnel 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the 2010 BP oil spill to the five Gulf States: On Wednesday, the House, on a mostly party line vote, rejected a Democratic move to pass a two-year $109 billion Senate transportation bill, which includes the RESTORE Act.
MICHAEL DeMOCKER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
Fireboats try to extinguish the blaze on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig south of Venice after an explosion left at least 15 workers injured and 11 missing on Wednesday, April 21, 2010.Instead, the House will soon take up a 90-day extension of current transportation funding, hoping the Senate will go alone. Otherwise, funding authorization for federal funding of highway, bridge and transit projects expires on March 31.
House Speaker John Boehner has been forced to seek the temporary extension because he doesn't have the votes for a GOP $260 billion, five-year transportation bill. Some of his conservative Tea Party members say it is too expensive, especially with federal gas taxes in decline as Americans reduce driving and buy more fuel efficient vehicles in response to high gas prices. Democrats objects to provisions that would fund some of the spending through a dramatic increase in areas - both inland and offshore, for oil and gas development.
The House bill has major components of the Restore Act in it, but there's still no guarantee that when a final bill emerges those provisions will remain.
Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, said that House GOP leaders are missing a chance to fund coastal restoration in Louisiana and fund vital transportation projects across the country by not passing the Senate bill, which passed with a strong 74-22 bipartisan vote.
"House Republicans continue to show that they value ideology instead of job creation and coastal restoration."This week the RESTORE Act got a boost when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged enactment, joining a host of environmental and business groups already on board.
"Unfortunately, existing law does not allow for allocation of any of the funds collected to be directed towards the environmental or economic recovery of the impact areas," K. Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the Chamber, wrote Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson. "The RESTORE Act would remedy this inequity by creating the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund to be funded by redirecting 80 percent of the civil penalties collected by the Environmental Protection Agency."
The Environmental Law Institute said it's possible a negotiate settlement on Clean Water Act fines could include an agreement to funnel most of the money to Louisiana and other Gulf states, even without enactment of the RESTORE Act. It's even possible such a deal would be better for Louisiana, where most of the damage from the spill occurred.
But that's far from guaranteed and some Louisiana lawmakers fear the state could end up with nothing from the fine money without legislation like the Restore Act.