More Controversy As Gulf Restoration Projects Begin

Government officials have approved tentative plans to spend approximately $627 million on 44 separate projects to facilitate environmental recovery from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. And in true American fashion, environmentalists are furious that $58 million of this restoration effort will go towards an Alabama beachfront hotel which they argue will not help to restore the habitats of the Gulf. Actually, no, they argue that it will definitely hurt the habitats of the Gulf region. BP, of course, provided an initial $1 billion back in 2011 as a down payment for the coastal restoration efforts after the Deepwater Horizon spill. This money is intended to go towards restoring the local environment in an effort to improve public access to the whole of the Gulf of Mexico. oil-split As terrible as it might seem “public access” does, actually, include beachfront hotels which, by the way, help to stimulate economic growth as travelers find more places to stay. And its not like this is an arbitrary decision. Five Gulf states and four federal agencies were among the long list of trustees which had to reach a consensus for spending the money. So far, two earlier phases have already been approved, totaling $71 million. BP will probably have to pay even more in penalties once their environmental fines are levied. But the biggest sum of money—$318 million—will serve restoration efforts on four barrier islands just off the Louisiana coast, an area eroding quickly...more

It only took 4 years to approve a "tentative" plan.  Wonder how many years it will now take for the projects to actually come to fruition?