Big hat, no cattle. That’s an old adage used in ranch country to describe someone who has big plans but an empty wallet.
And that’s where the RESTORE Act is today.
While the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council last week unanimously approved a plan for spending what is expected to be billions in fines against BP for polluting the Gulf during the Deepwater Horizon disaster, at the moment the council only has small change on hand. The federal trial to determine how much BP will pay could be a year or more from completion.
Yet the Initial Comprehensive Plan is noteworthy because it lays down the complicated ground rules five Gulf states will play by when competing for funds.
No state has more at stake than Louisiana. As every local speaker told the Council, Southeast Louisiana currently is losing its race for survival against rising seas and a sinking landscape. The billions that might be coming its way from the RESTORE Act are now seen as critical to the state’s $50 billion Master Plan for the Coast, another great hope desperately short of cattle.
So with the biggest piece of the RESTORE puzzle still to be determined, here are the high points and concerns for Louisiana:
How much will be in the RESTORE Trust Fund?
This has not been settled. The RESTORE Trust Fund has only $320 million in the bank, which is the initial payment from the $800 million fine exacted from Transocean, operator of the rig. The far bigger amount of money expected from BP is still very much subject to debate.
The Clean Water Act sets fines at up to $1,100 per barrel if there is no finding of “gross negligence” and $4,300 a barrel is there is such a finding. The government has claimed 4.9 million barrels were spilled, but U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier has ruled BP can subtra