WASHINGTON -- Since Hurricane Katrina, Women of the Storm have been regular visitors to Capitol Hill, pleading with lawmakers to help the Gulf Coast recover and more recently to ensure the state's decimated ecosystems and wetlands are restored. With a House-Senate committee now deciding whether to include a provision dedicating 80 percent of BP oil spill Clean Water Act...
WASHINGTON -- Since Hurricane Katrina, Women of the Storm have been regular visitors to Capitol Hill, pleading with lawmakers to help the Gulf Coast recover and more recently to ensure the state's decimated ecosystems and wetlands are restored.
The Women of the Storm have made regular trips to Washington, D.C., to lobby on issues regarding recovery from hurricane damage and coastal restoration.With a House-Senate committee now deciding whether to include a provision dedicating 80 percent of BP oil spill Clean Water Act fines to the five Gulf States into a transportation funding bill, the group contemplated another visit. But they've decided instead to do a virtual visit - using Facebook, Twitter, email and cell phones for supporters to contact the 47 members of the committee.
"Rather than 140 women aboard a charter flight to D.C., we invited hundreds of women, friends and family in our 'virtual storm' on Wednesday, May 30," said Anne Milling, founder of Women of the Storm. "Make your voice heard. This is a unique opportunity for Congress to act in a bipartisan manner and demonstrate that it can legislate for the good for the regions of our country, damaged and impacted by the Deep Water Horizon oil spill."
It is only right, Milling said, "that the "majority of the BP fine money be applied where the damage was done."
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the chairwoman of the 47-member conference committee, has expressed optimism the legislation designating the BP fine money to the five Gulf States will make it into the final transportation bill -- given that both houses have passed versions of the legislation. The legislation is known as the RESTORE Act, and stands for The Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourism Opportunities and Revived Economy on the Gulf Coast Act.
It could be a huge financial benefit for Louisiana, which has ambitious but unfinanced plans to restore the state's vanishing coast and wetlands. The Clean Water Act fines are projected to bring in between $5 billion and $20 billion.
The bill has the support of most Gulf State members, and almost all Democrats. But several House Republican members on the House-Senate committee have expressed opposition to how the RESTORE Act is paid for as well as some other provisions in the Senate bill.