BP oil spill fund: $103M to projects in 3 Gulf states
Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi are receiving more than $103 million in BP oil spill settlement money for new and continued coastal projects. “These projects, combined with existing investments, continue to advance our goal of protecting and restoring species and habitats impacted by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill,” Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, said Thursday. The 11 new projects and two extensions from the foundation’s Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund bring its total allocations across the five Gulf states to $1.6 billion, a news release said. Alabama is getting more than $43 million for four new projects, the foundation said. Florida is getting nearly $33 million for one new project. The remaining $27 million will support six new projects and continue two others in Mississippi. The Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund received $2.5 billion in settlement money from criminal charges against BP and its codefendants. The fund is for work to fix damage and reduce risks of future damage to natural resources affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. State and national agencies work to identify potential projects to ensure coordination with activities under two other programs that received money from spill settlements or fines. Three of the new projects in Alabama are designed to stabilize eroding shorelines and restore coastal marsh in Mobile County and on the north side of Dauphin Island. Previous grants covered engineering, design, and permitting for those projects. The fourth grant will pay for engineering and design of beach and dune restoration on Dauphin Island’s west end. Florida plans to use its award to acquire and manage about 32,000 acres (13,000 hectares) of wetland and floodplain habitat in the Apalachicola watershed. That’s aimed at ensuring sufficient freshwater and nutrient flow to Apalachicola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico to support oysters and marine fishes. Mississippi’s new projects will expand and plan for future enhancements of artificial reefs across the Mississippi Sound and restore and protect vulnerable coastal habitats along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. “The health of our natural resources is intertwined with the strength of the economy of south Mississippi,” said Chris Wells, head of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. “These projects, in addition to the others announced for this year, will continue the essential work necessary to enhance the coastal habitat so vital for marine life.” Mississippi has received about $192 million from the fund. Alabama has received about $300 million; Florida, about $290 million; Louisiana, $603 million; and Texas, $203 million. About $940 million remains to be allocated. The plea agreements for BP and other defendants set out the percentage of the total for projects in each state. Texas has reached its limit. Louisiana, which suffered the most damage, will ultimately get nearly $1.3 billion for barrier island and river diversion projects, and Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi will get $356 million each. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Additional $280M issued in BP oil spill restoration grants
Gulf states are getting an additional $280 million in restoration grants from the BP oil spill of 2010. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation says Monday that Louisiana is getting $161 million to restore three barrier islands. Florida is receiving $53 million, including $16 million to protect coastal forest and wetlands along the Lower Suwanee River and Big Bend coast. Nearly $49 million will go to Alabama, including $22.5 million for artificial reefs. Texas will get $19 million, including $6 million to protect 575 acres of coastal habitat. The foundation is getting $2.5 billion over five years for restoration projects. The money’s coming from criminal damages paid by BP PLC and drilling company Transocean Deepwater Inc. Monday’s grants bring the total so far to $1.3 billion. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Five things you need to know about Troy King
The primary elections are over, but some highly sought spots still remain open due to the primary races resulting in runoffs. One of those races is for the Attorney General’s seat. In a highly contested and publicized race, Incumbent Steve Marshall and former Alabama Attorney General Troy King both garnered enough support to tip the race into a a runoff election set for July 17. With that in mind, here are five things you need to know about Troy King: 1. He was Alabama’s Attorney General in from 2004 to 2010. It’s safe to say King knows a thing or two about the day-to-day proceedings of the Alabama Attorney General’s office. He was first appointed attorney general in 2004 by former Gov. Bob Riley, after William Pryor left the office to accept federal judge position with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2006, King defeated democratic nominee John M. Tyson in the November general election of that year. He served as Attorney General for one term after his election, and was defeated by Luther Strange in the 2010 Republican primary; but now he’s back and ready to ultimately find victory as the Party’s nominee. 2. He was instrumental in bringing changes to the Yellowhammer State’s sex offender laws. While serving as Attorney General, King made it his mission to bring new laws regarding sex offenders to the state. Specifically he wanted the state to require that Alabama’s sex offenders who were released wear an electronic monitoring bracelet (such as those used for those on house arrest or parole) to monitor the sex offenders whereabouts. He was so adamant about his position that he wore an electronic monitoring bracelet himself during the 2005 legislative session, until the law was changed. 3. Although he is very opposed to gambling of any kind in Alabama, he’s accepted campaign donations from out of state gambling interests. During his time as Attorney General, not only did he introduce anti-gambling legislation every year of his time in public office, he also prosecuted several electronic gambling sites, opposed a gambling expansion for the Native American tribes in Alabama, and even requested that the United States Department of the Interior deny the Poarch Band of Creek Indian’s application to broaden their gambling operations in the state. But a recent report by AL.com claims King has received “about $90,000 from five South Carolina companies and individuals with links to gaming.” According to the report, one of the major donors from South Carolina, Keith Gray, is involved in the gambling business, with one of his businesses being prosecuted in 2017 by the state of Alabama. Gray reportedly used his own name, names of family members, and business associates to donate to King’s campaign, including two companies called Open Ocean Investments and Sycamore Investments. Which have, “disconnected phone numbers, [and] share a post office box in Piedmont, South Carolina.” 4. He was the first Attorney General to sue BP after Deepwater horizon. On April 20, 2010, an explosion on an oil rig off the coast of Luisiana, called Deep Water Horizon, started a chain of events which eventually led to around 4.9 million barrels of oil being pumped into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill caused massive amounts of damage to coastal ecosystems and communities located near the gulf. Under King’s leadership, Alabama was the first state impacted by the Deep water Horizon oil spill to file a lawsuit against the oil rig’s owners, BP. “BP is now on notice,” King told CNN. “Alabama intends to hold you good to your word and to make you put our state back the way you found it.” King’s actions led to a settlement with BP in which the state was awarded $1.3 billion to be paid out over 14 years. 5. His favorite musician is Johnny Cash (at least on Facebook anyway). According to King’s campaign Facebook page, his favorite music to listen to is Johnny Cash. Cash is a very famous country artist best known for his songs “Boy Named Sue” and “Ring of Fire.”
Oil spill fines will pay for 300 new Gulf conservation jobs
Three hundred new conservations jobs will open up in the next few years in states along the Gulf of Mexico, paid for by about $7 million in BP oil spill penalties. Employment will ramp up gradually, with 10 new jobs in each state next year, 20 more in 2019 and another 30 the following year, for a total of 60 new jobs in each of the five states by 2020, conservation official Jeff DeQuattro said Wednesday. “We’ll be recruiting in October, November, December, with boots on the ground in January,” said DeQuattro, The Nature Conservancy’s director of restoration and program director for the new GulfCorps. Meetings to discuss possible projects will begin Friday, DeQuattro said. Officials say GulfCorps workers will learn marketable restoration skills on projects that could include planting native vegetation, removing invasive species, repairing banks and shorelines and creating turtle or bird habitat on beaches. “We hope this can expand for 15 years as oil spill money is being spent,” DeQuattro said in an earlier interview. “We’re creating the infrastructure for this to last much longer than this three-year period.” The conservancy, The Corps Network and the Student Conservation Association are working together under a RESTORE Act grant administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The RESTORE Act set up a trust fund for 80 percent of the water pollution penalties paid after July 2012 by companies involved in the 2010 oil spill. A well that BP PLC was drilling from the Deepwater Horizon rig blew in April 2010, killing 11 men. It took nearly three months to cap the well, which spewed an estimated 134 million gallons (507 million liters) of oil in the nation’s worst offshore oil spill. “This project will address critical environmental issues along the Gulf while employing young adults who live in communities directly impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,” Mark Burget, The Nature Conservancy’s executive vice president, said in a news release. DeQuattro said the program is designed to fill in gaps from bigger projects. “A lot of the oil spill projects are going to be done by large contracting firms with heavy equipment and machinery. There’s a need for these tactical teams to go in and do things these contractors can’t do with their equipment or don’t want to do,” he said. NOAA and RESTORE Council representatives from each state will work with GulfCorps to decide specific projects in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, DeQuattro said. “I’m presenting some project ideas that are out there already, but they may have other suggestions,” he said. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Steve Flowers: BP oil spill money, a missed opportunity for Alabama’s natural resources
We have unbelievable natural resources in Alabama starting with the Tennessee Valley and transcending to the beautiful white sands at Gulf Shores. Many of our natural resources have been exploited over the years. The prime example would be the exploitation of our rich vaults of iron ore discovered in Jefferson County in the early 20th Century. It created the city of Birmingham, the Steel City of the South. U.S. Steel swept in and bought the entire region and used cheap labor in the mines and steel mills and kept poor whites and blacks in poverty wages and shantytowns. They owed their soul to the company store. Finally, they organized into labor unions. The United Steel Workers Union Local in Birmingham became the largest in the nation. Alabama also became the most unionized state in the south. The TVA workers and Reynolds Aluminum workers in the Tennessee Valley were all unionized. The tire workers in Gadsden, Opelika, and Tuscaloosa were unionized. The federal workers around Ft. Rucker in the Wiregrass were union. The largest employer in Mobile was the docks. The dockworkers were unionized. When you combine these locales with the steelworkers in Birmingham, we were a pretty unionized state. In the course of our recent history, we have been more prudent with our natural resources. The prime example of that would be during the late 1970s when we sold the oil rights in Mobile Bay to Exxon Mobil. We got a fair price, and we put the entire corpus aside and preserved the money into a trust called the Heritage Trust Fund. Governor Fob James deserves credit for this accomplishment. It is the crowning achievement of his two terms as governor. It is quite a legacy. Not all governors leave a legacy. Ole Fob has one. Not as much can be said for our most recent governors. Don Siegelman, Bob Riley, and Robert Bentley cannot point to any accomplishment that will distinguish their time as governor. Jim Folsom Jr., who only served two years as governor, can lay claim to having lured and landed Mercedes, which has been the crucible that has catapulted us into the second leading automaker in the nation. Governor Bentley was given a golden opportunity to garner a place in history with the one-time BP oil spill money. Granted, it was not as much money as the Exxon Mobil oil rights nor did we get as good a settlement as could have been garnered. We will only see $693 million of the $1 billion settlement because we bailed out and sold out to get our money up front. Compared to Louisiana and Florida, it was not a good settlement. Essentially this one-time windfall will be squandered. The BP money was appropriated in a special session last September. The Legislature spent the entire BP oil settlement proceeds with a compromise bill that divided the money between state debt repayments, roads for Baldwin and Mobile counties and Medicaid. The allocation was $400 million for paying off state debts, $120 million for highway projects in Baldwin and Mobile counties, and a total of $120 million to Medicaid over the next two years. There had been a contentious battle over the funds for Baldwin and Mobile going back to last year’s regular session. Lawmakers from the coastal counties fought diligently for the road money because their counties received the brunt of the 2010 oil spill. Lawmakers from North Alabama felt that the BP settlement should compensate all Alabamians equally. Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), who chairs the Education Budget Committee in the Senate, led the fight for North Alabama and Sen. Trip Pittman (R-Baldwin), who chairs the Senate General Fund Committee, spearheaded the battle for Baldwin/Mobile. Senators compromised the final day of the special session. The money from BP is spent. The only thing to show for it will be some highway to the beach. They ought to at least name it the BP Expressway. It would be the only legacy from the windfall. See you next week. ___ Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
USDA describes $328M oil spill restoration plan for Gulf
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it’s focusing conservation programs along the Gulf of Mexico in a $328 million plan to help recovery from the 2010 oil spill. Undersecretary Robert Bonnie says the agency will use that focus through 2018 as it helps coastal producers plan improvements to improve water quality and improve coastal ecosystems under several Farm Bill programs. Louisiana State University AgCenter Associate Vice President Rogers Leonard says the oil spill tie-in is a new twist to existing programs, and will bring in a broader audience. Gulf Coast farmers will be interested in the amount of money available, he said. Bonnie described the plan Monday at a Mississippi timber plot where the owner has worked with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to help improve downstream water quality. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama lawmakers try to break deadlock on BP oil spill money
Alabama lawmakers on Wednesday made a last-ditch effort to break a deadlock on how to spend the funds from a settlement related to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A conference committee attempted to strike a middle ground between lawmakers who want money for road projects in coastal counties and others who want to steer money to the state’s cash-strapped Medicaid program. The House of Representatives approved the conference committee’s plan on an 87-9. It now moves the Alabama Senate where divisions among senators are sharper. “This is possibly, at this point in time, the best that we are going to be able to do. There was compromise on all sides,” Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said. Alabama is set to receive $850 million in compensation for economic damages from the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. State lawmakers are considering taking a smaller amount up font — a projected $640 million — by doing a bond issue. But first they must agree on how to use the money. Lawmakers have been deadlocked over how much of the money to use for debt payment, Medicaid or road projects. The proposed compromise would steer $120 million to south Alabama road projects and $120 million to Medicaid over the next two years. It would also use $400 million to repay money borrowed from other state coffers during past budget shortfalls. The House had initially approved a bill that would have steered $191 million to road projects in Mobile and Baldwin counties, Some senators in both parties argued Wednesday the state should put more money to the state’s struggling Medicaid program. Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said Medicaid could need an additional $200 million or more in coming years, and the settlement funds were the best hope to help fill that funding gap. Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, said the plan gave “crumbs” to the Medicaid program while lawmakers were fixated on building projects and paying interest-free debt. Senators are expected to debate the bill through Wednesday afternoon. Gov. Robert Bentley brought lawmakers into special session to debate a proposed state lottery and other ways to try to get additional money to the state’s perpetually cash-strapped Medicaid program. With the lottery bill dead for the special session, the oil spill settlement bill took center stage in the final days of the special session. Marsh said lawmakers risked getting no additional money for Medicaid if they end the special session without approving the bill. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
With lottery dead, Alabama lawmakers focus on BP oil spill funds
Alabama lawmakers will focus on legislation dividing the state’s nearly $1 billion in oil spill settlement money when they resume a special session Tuesday on Medicaid funding. With lottery legislation dead for the session, the bill takes center stage as the only option before lawmakers to get additional money to the state’s Medicaid program. Legislators are deadlocked over the best use of the money intended to compensate the state for economic damages suffered during the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. They have been split over how much to use for building roads in coastal counties and how much to use for paying state debt and funding Medicaid. “I’m not real optimistic. You are going to have a group that is very forceful about using the money for debt repayment and/or Medicaid. And you have a group that is willing to lock it down on getting money to south Alabama,” Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said. The Alabama Senate on Tuesday will resume debate on a House-passed plan that would use the BP money for debt payment and roads. Marsh said if lawmakers can’t reach an agreement Tuesday, there could be a sentiment to go ahead and end the special session Tuesday instead of returning for the final two days. Alabama’s general fund is getting $1 billion over the next 18 years, under the state’s settlement with BP. Under the bill, the state would take a smaller amount of the remaining $850 million in payments up front — a projected $640 million— by doing a bond issue. About $450 million would be used for paying back money borrowed during past budget shortfalls and $191 million would be used for two state road projects in coastal counties. Paying debt early would free up about $70 million in help fill a projected $85 million hole in next year’s Medicaid budget. Lawmakers from south Alabama have been adamant that won’t take less, or at least not much less, for the road projects. Sen. Bill Hightower, R-Mobile, said coastal Alabama suffered the brunt of the damage from the oil spill and should get more benefit from the money. “The money is there because the oil spilled along the coast. That’s where the damage occurred,” Hightower said. Other lawmakers have said they want to see more money go to the state’s Medicaid program, arguing south Alabama received its own direct compensation funds from BP. Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said the problem is not just next year’s Medicaid budget. He said Medicaid is facing “catastrophic shortfalls” in 2018 and 2019. “I think it is extremely important we try to address Medicaid funding shortfalls anticipated for 18 and 19,” Orr said. “There will be definitely some alternative offered that would support Medicaid significantly over a three-year period.” Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, introduced an amendment to reduce the road money by $15 million and send it to Medicaid. “That should give the $85 million that Medicaid needs next year,” Pittman said. Hightower said the Pittman amendment would be acceptable, but it is unclear if the additional few million would be enough to bridge the deep divisions in the Senate. Gov. Robert Bentley brought lawmakers into special session to consider a lottery bill and other means to get money to the state’s perpetually cash-strapped Medicaid program. “Lottery is dead so it’s all BP now,” Rep. Steve Clouse, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said. Pittman said lawmakers, after propping up budgets in past with borrowed money, eventually have to make a choice: Raise revenue or make cuts. “You have to do one or the other,” Pittman said. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama House to debate how to spend BP oil spill settlement
The Alabama House Ways and Means Committee approved a plan on Tuesday for spending Alabama’s settlement money from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon “BP” oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The plan, devised primarily by Ozark-Republican and Committee Chairman Steve Clouse, calls for the state to create a $639 million bond issue and apply the BP payments to pay off the bonds. Under the plan, $450 million of the settlement would be used for debt repayment and nearly $200 million toward road projects in coastal counties. Clouse, said paying debt early would free up state funds and provide nearly all of additional $85 million in funding requested by Alabama Medicaid, by creating a surplus of $70 million in this year’s budget and next year’s budget. The House approved a similar plan in April, but the spending proposals fell apart over a disagreement between northern and southern Alabama lawmakers over how much money should be spent on state debt versus road projects in south Alabama. House and Senate Republicans plan to meet Wednesday to discuss a workable agreement. A vote on the bill could come as early as Wednesday.
Robert Bentley weighs possibility of legislative special session
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley hinted at the possibility of a Special Session of the State Legislature to make up a shortfall in the state’s Medicaid funding, which fell short of the agency’s requested budget by $85 million. “I have not made a decision on that yet. I met yesterday with my commissioner for Medicaid. You know, there’s some real problems there,” said the governor during a visit to Birmingham Wednesday, adding he has several months left to make his decision. Depending on the breadth of the governor’s call for the special session, any number of measures that were shot down in the Regular Session could be back on the table. Among the issues mentioned by Bentley were the $640 million BP oil spill settlement compromise and a $800 million prison construction bill. The governor, who has been mostly avoiding questions from the media in the last several weeks, also took the time to reiterate to reporters that he believes he has done nothing improper in his alleged relationship with former senior aide Rebekah Mason. It would be the second year in a row with a Special Session, should the governor follow through with his threat to call one. Meanwhile, a special legislative committee is currently investigating the claims made against Bentley in the articles of impeachment filed during the legislative session. Impeachment of the Governor is one of the few mechanisms through which the Legislature can call itself into session. Should that happen, and the House pass the articles of impeachment, there is some question on how to adjudicate the issue in the Alabama Senate. Under normal circumstances, the hearings would be presided over by the chief justice of the state’s Supreme Court, but Chief Justice Roy Moore was suspended this week by the Alabama Judiciary Inquiry Commission for his attempts to block gay marriage following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Alabama House passes 11th-hour Medicaid funding patch in BP settlement compromise
A deal providing $70 million in additional funding from the BP settlement to Medicaid was struck Thursday night in the Alabama House, providing a one-time patch to the ailing health care program on the last possible day to come to a compromise during the 2016 Regular Session. Passing the House 82-12, the band-aid measure will come from the more than $1 billion in settlement funds from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill. The settlement isn’t paid in a lump sum, but is spread out over the next 17 years. But the Medicaid patch is not the only part of the grand compromise. Under the agreement, a $600 million bond would be taken out against the promise of the settlement, and used to pay back $448 million in debt obligations and $191 million in infrastructure funding to Mobile and Baldwin Counties, in addition to the funds going to Medicaid. The $70 million Medicaid money is still $15 short of what the agency requested, and has detractors on both sides of the issue. Ed Henry, Republican of Hartselle and other legislators and interested parties are concerned this amounts to kicking the can down the road once again. “What I do hate is the idea of spending one-time money on Medicaid,” said Henry. The Senate left their record open to receive messages from the House, ensuring the compromise can be taken up by the upper body in the last two days of the Regular Session. Both the House and Senate are adjourned until Tuesday. They are expected to reconvene Tuesday, and conclude the year’s session Wednesday.
Alabama House Committee approves bill dividing BP oil spill settlement
The Alabama House Budget Committee approved a bill Wednesday dividing the $20 billion settlement BP is scheduled to pay the state over 18 years for the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. HB569 divides the funds to pay off state debts and as well as road projects in coastal Alabama counties. The plan, sponsored by Ozard Republican Rep. Steve Clouse, would also help close the gap in next year’s Medicaid shortfall — freeing up $55 million of the necessary $85 million officials say is needed to maintain services across the state. The bill moves forward to the full House for consideration, which could happen as early as Thursday.
