Louisiana will receive $340 million from BP in early Natural Resource Damage Assessment money for four projects to restore barrier islands and to finance two coastal science centers, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Tuesday in a news conference in Jean Lafitte. The money comes from $1 billion that BP set aside in 2011 to build early projects to compensate for damages to natural resources resulting from the three-month flow of oil resulting from the blowout of BP’s Macondo well in April 2010.
The projects include almost $320 million for restoration of Whiskey Island, also known as the Caillou Lake Headlands, in Terrebonne Parish; and the Cheniere Ronquille headland, Shell Island and North Breton Island in Plaquemines Parish. Another $22 million will be spent on the two fish stock research and enhancement centers in Lake Charles and Pointe a la Hache.
“In total, these projects will create thousands of acres of dune and marsh and will restore several miles of our barrier island beaches,” Jindal said during a news conference at Jean Lafitte City Hall attended by parish and city officials and several state legislators. “These islands help to protect our coast and our communities. They’ve been eroding at alarming rate and the oil spill has exacerbated this loss.”
But Jindal also made clear that as big as this payment looks, it’s a drop in the bucket compared with what the state thinks BP should pay to restore damage to Louisiana’s natural resources.
“Absolutely,” Jindal said when asked by a reporter whether BP should be found grossly negligent in its actions leading up to the Macondo well blowout in the ongoing federal lawsuit that will determine how much the company pays in Clean Water Act fines. A ruling of gross negligence would result in a four-fold increase in those fines.
“I believe they’re liable to the tune of tens of billions of dollars to restore the entire coast, and secondly that it needs to be done quickly,” Jindal said. “They need to put their dollars into this community now, not years from now. Otherwise, some of the very habitat, some of the very communities, some of the very coast we’re trying to restore, it may be too late.”
In its own news release announcing the projects, BP pointed out that the money is part of a $20 billion trust fund the company established in 2010 to pay claims, final judgments and settlements from outstanding lawsuits, state and local response costs and claims and natural resource damages.
We are extremely pleased to have reached agreement with the trustees on the new projects, which will provide significant long-term benefits to the environment and the people of Louisiana, said Laura Folse, BP’s executive vice president for response and environmental restoration. With the help of the extensive cleanup efforts, early restoration projects, and natural recovery processes, the Gulf is returning to its baseline condition, which is the condition it would be in if the accident had not occurred.
In a separate news release announcing its first quarter 2013 financial results, BP said the company had recorded a charge on its books of $42.2 billion to cover its oil spill costs, but remained confident that it would not be found grossly negligent in the legal case.
“While the final decision rests with the court, BP believes the evidence and testimony presented at trial confirms that it was not grossly negligent and that the accident was the result of multiple causes, involving multiple parties,” the news release said.
Court testimony in the liability portion of the civil trial ended on April 17, and U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier is not expected to issue a ruling on the neglligence issue for several months. In September, a second phase of the trial begins to determine the amount of oil spilled and the role of BP and other companies during the spill and its aftermath.
The $340 million in projects announced Tuesday actually includes money allocated to Louisiana and the federal Departments of Interior and Commerce as trustees under the Natural Resource Damage Assessment provisions of the Oil Pollution Act of 1980.
The trustees signed an agreement allocating $100 million each to the five Gulf Coast states and the two departments, and set aside $300 million that would be controlled by the two federal agencies but spent on state lands. Close to $200 million of the $300 million set-aside is distributed among several of the projects, with additional amounts coming directly from the individual agency $100 million shares, a state spokesman said.
Louisiana’s remaining $70 million from its $100 million allocation also will be used up with these projects, the spokesman said.
The Whiskey Island project will cost $110 million, and include the restoration of beaches, dunes and back-barrier marshes. The island is one of four along the Terrebonne coast that were once part of the Isles Dernieres, or Last Island, until an 1856 hurricane first cut the sand strip into segments.
The Cheniere Ronquille project on the west bank of Plaquemines Parish in southernmost Barataria Bay will cost $35 million for reconstruction of beaches, dunes and back-barrier marshes. Of that, $32.5 million is being supplied by Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is a continuation of a NOAA project that rebuilt part of the island under the federal-state Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act.
At Shell Island, also on Plaquemines’ west bank along the southern edge of Barataria Bay, $101 million will be spent to restore dunes and beach on the island’s east and west lobes and to restore marshes behind it.
The $72 million North Breton Island project to restore beach, marsh and dunes includes $36 million from the Interior Department, which will contract with the state to complete the work. The island is part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge, the nation’s second oldest and the only one visited by President Theodore Roosevelt, who established the refuge system. North Breton Island also serves as a rookery for a variety of wading birds, including brown pelicans.
The Lake Charles fisheries center will focus on redfish, speckled trout and flounder, with researchers marking and monitoring some game fish to help in their management.
The Pointe a la Hache center will focus on the reprodution, survivability and population health of bait fish, including shrimp, cocahoe and croaker,
In late 2011, the state received $30 million from BP’s advance payment for two other projects: creation of 104 acres of marsh in the Lake Hermitage area, part of the Barataria basin, in Plaquemines; and the creation of 850 acres of oyster cultch habitat on public oyster seed grounds in six Louisiana locations.
Mississippi, Alabama and Florida received $39 million in earlier NRDA projects. Additional projects in those states have not yet been announced.
2013 NOLA Media Group