Almost a year after the Gulf oil spill, the region is still waiting for Congress to provide funds to restore the coastline.
President Obama included $63 million for restoration in his FY11 and FY12 budget proposals – the first-ever funding for restoration projects to reverse wetlands losses in the Louisiana Coastal Area of the Mississippi River Delta.
Congress yet to act on the FY 2011 budget request of $35.6 million for ecosystem restoration – $19 million for wetlands construction projects and $16.6 million for wetlands pre-construction engineering and design studies.
The President’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget is for $27 million – $10.8 million for wetlands feasibility studies, $5.4 million for wetlands pre-construction engineering and design studies, $10.62 million for wetlands construction projects and $100,000 for the LCA comprehensive plan.
The proposed investments are part of a larger effort that focuses the expertise and resources of a broad spectrum of federal agencies – including the Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, EPA, and the U.S. Geological Survey – on the critical restoration needs on the Gulf Coast.
Louisiana loses a football field of land every 48 minutes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Since The Great Depression, Louisiana has lost 2,300 square miles of land, an area equivalent in size to the state of Delaware.
The coastal wetlands act as a buffer protecting two million people in New Orleans and the surrounding communities. They also protect pipelines, navigation channels and refineries that service a third of US oil and gas production. And of course they provide critical habitat for fish and animals.
Sign the petition to get Congress to act:
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