The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced that it’s seeking input and comments from the public on the restoration of the Gulf in the wake of the BP drilling disaster. This comment period and series of hearings throughout the Gulf will be one of the first opportunities for regular citizens to have a say in how the Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA) for the Gulf moves forward. NRDA is the federally-mandated process for ensuring that corporations like BP pay to restore the natural resources they’ve harmed during an oil spill back to the condition they were in before any oil was released (check out more on NRDA here and here).You can find a public meeting near you here, submit your suggestions and comments online here, and read NOAA’s full release on the comment period here.Raleigh Hoke is GRN’s Mississippi Organizer
