RESTORE ACT moving closer to reality

The RESTORE ACT which was created to help communities rebuild after the 2010 BP oil spill may be moving closer to actually providing funding to coastal communities along the Gulf.

Under the Restore law, 80 percent of any civil and administrative penalties under the Clean Water Act is steered into the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund to help rebuild the hardest hit areas.

The fund could be many billions of dollars depending on the fines levied against BP and other groups involved in the spill.

35 percent of the money in the Trust Fund will be divided equally among Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas for ecological and economic restoration.

The Treasury Department released the Interim Final Rules related to the RESTORE Act on August 15th.

The rules still have to be published for 30 days and then there is a 60 day period after that before they become final.

County director of administrative services Alan Pierce said he doubts any changes will be made over the next 90 days but you never know.

There are 97 pages or rules – each of Franklin County’s Commissioners have a copy- they will also be given an analysis of the rules by the Gulf Consortium which represents all of the 23 counties in Florida impacted by the oil spill.

Mister Pierce added that the US Treasury will provide the training related to the new rules and for applying for the RESTORE money and that will likely be held sometime next month.

Franklin County has a RESTORE Act council already in place to consider local projects once the RESTORE money begins to be disbursed.

http://live.oysterradio.com/