The U.S. Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, held a press conference at Sanders Beach today to tout his plan for the recovery of the Gulf Coast from the BP oil disaster.
The report has some good recommendations, but it fails to create an economic zone with incentives to encourage job growth in our area, similar to the GO Zone that was created for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama after Hurricane Katrina (the one in which Congressman Miller failed to get us included)…at least it’s not in the executive summary.
This Mabus report recommends that the President urge Congress to dedicate a significant amount of any obtained civil Clean Water Act penalties incurred by those responsible for the spill toward assisting the region where the damage from the spill occurred.
Other recommendations:
- Create a Gulf Coast Recovery Council to manage the dedicated Clean Water Act funds.
- Immediate appointment of a single federal lead for ecosystem restoration.
- Immediate creation of an administratively established Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force to manage the transition from response to recovery and coordinate non-NRDA ecosystem funds and projects.
- Continuation of public health efforts.
- Continuation of the important economic recovery work.
- Support to nonprofit organizations working on the Gulf Coast.