GRN’s Campaign Director, Steve Muchie, giving public comment at the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council Meeting in New OrleansLast week, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council met in New Orleans to release their Initial Comprehensive Plan. The Plan did not include a prioritized list of restoration projects, which the Council chalked up to the lack of funding regulations that had not been released by the US Department of Treasury. These regulations are meant to define the expenditure of funds under the RESTORE Act. Well, the regulations were just published today.On first glance, the regulations look good; they outline how the Clean Water Act fines from the BP Oil Drilling Disaster should be granted. While we would like to see requirements for transparency better demonstrated throughout the document we think they are on the right track.If you want to dig into the new Draft Regulations, you can see them here. GRN will be spending the next few days further analyzing the new rules and will have more comprehensive comments in the near future.
