By Sascha Cordner
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-997772.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – Oil giant, BP is still embroiled in several cases related to the Deepwater Horizon accident that killed 11 workers and triggering the worst offshore oil disaster in US history. Friday BP reached a 250-million dollar settlement with Cameron International, the maker of the Blowout Preventer that failed to stop last year's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Meanwhile, when it comes to the fines, BP is responsible for on its own, Sascha Cordner reports a new poll shows there is bi-partisan support for a Congressional bill that would designate those funds to help Gulf coast states rather than it being used to reduce the federal deficit.
Florida's U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio have joined forces, to sponsor a bill to help those affected by the massive oil spill.
The point of "Restore the Gulf Coast Act" is fairly simple: It makes sure that most of the money from the billions of dollars in penalties BP will pay goes towards restoring the Gulf region.
According to a newly-released bi-partisan poll, most Florida voters say they agree with the proposal.
"So, we asked voters about did they favor or oppose a bill that would require fines that BP pays for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill be spent on restoration efforts in the Gulf areas that are affected by the spill. 84 percent of voters favor that, only 11 percent oppose."
Dave Beattie is the President of Hamilton Campaigns, a Democratic polling firm affiliated with Senator Bill Nelson. Beattie's firm worked with Ayres McHenry and Associates, a Republican firm affiliated with Senator Marco Rubio, to produce the poll.
Beattie says for a bill to have this much support is a rare moment in history, especially when the 700 people surveyed had different political backgrounds, whether Tea Partiers, Democrats, or Republicans.
As things stand, unless Congress passes legislation like the Restore Act, the revenue from the fines will most likely go towards reducing the deficit.
He says it's also significant that about 80-percent of voters wanted most of the money from the BP oil spill fines to be used for cleaning up the Gulf States instead of reducing the federal deficit.
Beattie says dedicating 80-percent of the fines towards Gulf restoration makes sense.
"Again, the partisan support was consistent. The stereotype is what would happen in politics today is if you said the federal deficit, the Tea Party supporters would be radically different. There is no difference again among Tea Party or by registration on this. So, we find this consistency, this uniform public opinion on this set of issues, even though this electorate, this sample, is divided as we see consistently within politics today."
The poll also shows that 98-percent of Florida voters think that the ecosystem is important to Florida's economy.
This follows a newly released study by Duke University which shows 140 businesses across the nation would greatly benefit from the Restore Act. One of those businesses is Taylor Engineering, a Florida firm that practices water resources and environmental engineering.
Most of its projects are funded by Government agencies, like the state's Department of Environmental Protection. But, Taylor Engineering's Vice President Terry Hull says times have been tough:
"Our firm has had a 30-percent reduction in staff; other firms in our industry have suffered much worse, and it's because of the reduction in funding of the Government projects for restoration. This act, would certainly give us some immediate and long-term, positive benefits. Our business plan, our recovery, if you will, moving forward is to find projects and to add staff, and become healthy again, and this act will provide the stimulus to make that happen."
The Audubon of Florida is one of the five environmental groups that financed the bi-partisan poll. Its Executive Director Eric Draper says one of the environmental areas that will benefit from the Restore Act is a shorebird nesting area, just south of Caladesi Island. His group hopes to purchase forty acres of land to protect shorebirds there and also use the money in other places in North Florida:
"Lanark reef is a 7-acre emergent shoal which is the most important nesting area for pelicans in the entire Gulf coast of Florida, so we would use the funds from the Restore Act to buy and protect Lanark reef. Restoration is preservation. So, we want to get those little remnants, where we can get wildlife to reestablish themselves so that in case if we ever do get another oil spill, that we have got lots of wildlife distributed throughout the Gulf coast of Florida can help re-populate some of those places."
As the Restore Act heads to Congress, lawmakers, environmental groups, and businesses that support the proposal worry the bill will not pass and the money from the BP penalties will be used to reduce the federal deficit.
Mimi Drew represents Florida in the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resources Trustees. At a recent meeting, she says BP has already agreed to pay 1-billion dollars so far and a share of that money will go towards the first phase of early restoration in the Gulf. That includes two projects, 5-million dollars worth, in Escambia County:
"One is to restore a dune that had been destroyed by response vehicles that were driving back and forth and across it during the spill. Another is a series of boat ramps in Escambia County and those were to restore the damages that occurred when people were not able to go and enjoy the natural resource because of fear or because of getting oil on them."
Drew says those two projects are the first step that were taken towards using 100 million dollars Florida has received so far. There will be a couple of public meetings in January in the Panhandle to get input about the Escambia county projects and any other future projects.