Date: October 11 2010 written by Lily Thorne
President Barack Obama called for a creation of a task force to submit a restoration plan for the Gulf Coast ecosystem damaged by the BP oil spill
Gulf Coast environmental groups praised the call and urged the new task force to rely on input from local officials. Executive director of Mobile Baykeepers, Casi Callaway, says “Local involvement is absolutely key. If the public does not have a say, we’re not going to be ‘sweet’.”
Lisa Jackson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, will head the new Ecosystem Restoration Task Force. “The president has made clear that he wants restoration plans to come from the Gulf Coast and not be imposed on the Gulf residents by Washington,” Jackson said in a statement. “We’re counting on the people who know these areas best, the people who call the Gulf home, to shape our work.”
Obama’s order to restore the Gulf Coast says, “Its natural resources are an important economic engine for the entire United States, its waters sustain a diverse and vibrant ecosystem; and the Gulf’s culture, natural beauty and historic significance are unique.”
Andy Brack, president of the Center for a Better South in Charleston, S.C., called the report “timid.” He said, “The government has the responsibility to invest”, they should set up a $10 billion Gulf Coast development and recovery fund, with half of the money coming from BP.
