8/3/2019 LA Coastal Restoration Casualty of GOP Policies

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/la-coastal-restoration-casualty-of-gop-policies 1/5

1 | P a g e

Louisiana Coastal Restoration May be aCasualty of GOP Policies- 8/11/2011

Louisiana’s coastal restoration effort has been built on the assumption that the state can garnersubstantial federal funds for a comprehensive program, utilizing bipartisan support in Congress.Recent events show that this possibility is at risk, due to Republican fiscal policies and thebehavior of some members of the state’s GOP delegation.

The Tea Party control of the GOP has made any new large federal appropriations impossible, and

even ongoing funding for authorized projects is far less likely than before.

1) The GOP-led House opposed $35.6 million in President Obama’s budget for the Corps of Engineers that would fund coastal restoration in Louisiana. Despite explicit support from theOffice of Management and Budget and the White House, Appropriations Committee ChairmanRogers (R-Ky) made it clear that this funding wasn’t considered to have the “most benefit to theAmerican people, while cutting back funding for programs that we simply cannot afford or thatare not performing up to snuff.” 1

Congressman Cedric Richmond (D-New Orleans) stated that “House Republicans have forgottenthat Louisiana’s coast is integral to America’s domestic oil supply. Wetlands are also our

greatest natural form of flood protection and critical to our hurricane protection system. Banningnew programs to restore wetlands would be a slap in the face to Louisiana and the entire Gulf Coast.” 2

An amendment by Representative John Tierney (D-MA) that would have restored more of the$35.8 million for Louisiana coastal restoration requested by the White House was defeated, andfor the first time, a member of the state’s own delegation – Representative John Fleming (R-Minden) - voted against restoration funding. 3 The joint efforts of Representatives Richmond andScalise (R-Jefferson) pushed through an amendment that restored $1 million of the White Houserequest. 4

2) The state’s efforts to increase revenue sharing from offshore oil and gas drilling has run intoopposition from some Democratic members of the House Natural Resources Committee. 5 Senator Landrieu has led the push to move up the date that revenues to the state would increasefrom 2017 to 2015. But she has encountered opposition in the Senate Energy Committee aswell. 6

This situation is a direct result of the extremist policies that the GOP is promoting, especiallysince the 2010 election – and the embrace of those policies by Louisiana’s Republican delegationmembers. On the one hand, we have the Tea Party-dominated GOP pushing immediate, large-

8/3/2019 LA Coastal Restoration Casualty of GOP Policies

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/la-coastal-restoration-casualty-of-gop-policies 2/5

2 | P a g e

scale budget cuts, despite the advice of economists across the board that doing so will worsenand prolong the recession.

They created a false crisis over the debt ceiling that is negatively impacting the economy andAmerica’s financial standing in the world, supposedly to reduce the national debt – after they hadalready voted to increase the debt through extension of the Bush tax cuts and (in the House) theRyan budget proposal, both of which add trillions to the national debt over the coming decade. 7

Yet Louisiana’s Congressional Republicans continue to call for funding for the state’s needs – asif no one will notice the contradiction.

Several of the state’s GOP delegation have also distinguished themselves by mindless oppositionto President Obama and his administration, putting their partisan obsession far above theirobligation to protect Louisiana’s interests.

Congressman Jeff Landry (R-New Iberia) has been one of the worst offenders.

Landry gained the wrong kind of notoriety for Louisiana when he gratuitously insulted theChairs of the President’s Oil Spill Commission when they appeared before a House Committee,despite the fact that both gentlemen had not supported the administration’s 6 month moratoriumon deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. 8

Landry attached an amendment to the same bill for which Representatives Richmond and Scalisewere attempting to retain the administration’s funding for coastal restoration. But Landry’samendment aimed to deny funding for salaries of officials installed by the President in recess

appointments, despite the f act that Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush made many moreappointments of this kind. 9

Landry also refused an invitation to attend a White House meeting, insulting the President in theprocess by repeating GOP myths about the national debt – after he voted to increase it bysupporting the Ryan Budget Proposal. Landry's only accomplishment in this instance was toensure that his coastal Louisiana district was not represented at the meeting. 10

Coupled with all of this has been an all-out assault on environmental protection by the GOPwhich has been embraced and led by Louisiana’s Republican delegation (Senator Vitter has longpursued a similar agenda.) 11 These extremist policies have alienated Democrats who support

environmental protection, and ensured that Representative Landry had no credibility when hetries to lecture Committee members on protecting the environment in Louisiana. 12

Coastal restoration in Louisiana is at risk from the converging effects of GOP policies. On theone hand, new appropriations are unlikely after the likely contraction in federal funding beingforced by the GOP under the sway of the Tea Party. The anti-government posturing of GOPleaders does not bode well for Louisiana. They have mocked government “investments” asanother expression for wasteful spending 13, but coastal restoration in Louisiana is exactly the

8/3/2019 LA Coastal Restoration Casualty of GOP Policies

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/la-coastal-restoration-casualty-of-gop-policies 3/5

3 | P a g e

kind of investment the country needs to make, for all the reasons the state has given for over adecade.

In another action with ominous implications for Louisiana, House Majority Leader Eric Cantorresponded to the destruction of Joplin, Missouri by a tor nado by stating that disaster relief fundswould have to be offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget. 14 If this provision had been in placewhen Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (or Gustav and Ike) hit Louisiana, with damages far exceedingthe $1 billion appropriated to relieve the community of Joplin, the state's recovery would havebeen disastrously impeded. Congressman Richmond attacked this mean-spirited myopia, callingit “morally reprehensible and un-American,” and introduced the Humanitarian Aid forAmericans Act in Response. 15

Louisiana depends on federal funding for hurricane protection, flood control, and many other

vital needs – and restoration of the state's coast. The state concluded long ago that it could notafford the full cost of restoration itself (and that there were compelling national reasons to fundit.) The full cost of restoring the coast to a sustainable condition is unknown. Governor Jindal'sstaff has stated an estimate of $100 billion. 16

Due to the influence of the Tea Party-dominatedGOP, federal funding at the level needed to restore Louisiana's coast is now unlikely.

There are currently only two other sources of large-scale funding:

The Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA), the first phase of which divides 37.5percent of all qualified OCS (federal) revenues, including bonus bids, rent als and productionroyalty, among the four energy-producing Gulf States (AL, LA, MS, TX). 17 Phase II institutes a

$500 million revenue cap starting in 2017. Passage of GOMESA is one of Senator Landrieu'skey achievements. Her efforts to move the start of Phase II to 2015 to accelerate r estorationfunding are running into difficulty, with federal deficits a key issue of contention. 18

The other major source are the Clean Water Act fines and Natural Resource Damage Assessment(NRDA) payments resulting from last year's BP Blowout disaster. Senator Landrieu has justintroduced a bill to dedicate at least 80% of Clean Water Act penalties to Gulf states forenviron mental and economic restoration, with support of all Gulf State Senators except Cornyn(R-TX). 19 The monies from these sources are expected to run into the billions, but the exactamount and the timing of their availability are unknown and could take a decade or more. BP hasmade an initial contribution of $1 billion for ecosystem restoration on the Gulf Coast. 20

Bullet Points:

Large-scale federal funding for coastal restoration in Louisiana is now caught in the budget visethat the extremist GOP has imposed on the government and country. The state's GOP officials(Governor Jindal, Vitter, GOP House members) are being disingenuous by not leveling with thepublic about this – and the role they have played in this situation.

8/3/2019 LA Coastal Restoration Casualty of GOP Policies

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/la-coastal-restoration-casualty-of-gop-policies 4/5

4 | P a g e

On the one hand, the state's GOP delegation has joined the Tea Party in pushing for massiveimmediate and long-term cuts to discretionary spending, at the same time passing bills in the

House to strip the EPA and other agencies of the capacity and funding for environmentalprotection. The Tea Party will not support new large appropriations, and the state has lostcredibility with Democrats and Independents committed to protecting the environment. Bothfactors are impeding funding in appropriations bills, and a larger share of offshore revenues thatwould be diverted from the Treasury.

We believe that the case for national support for Louisiana is strong – for ecosystem, energy,navigation, and other reasons. But even Congressional members who understand this are nowfaced with huge national and state programs and projects that they cannot fund. Fortunately, thePresident still supports restoring Louisiana's wetlands and the Gulf Coast, though the GOP/TeaParty members such as Representative Landry are mindlessly opposed to any policies that the

White House proposes.

There is no easy way out of the box that GOP policies have put the state into. BP and GOMESAfunds are the only sources of near-term support. But GOP budget plans and priorities allow forno large-scale federal appropriations going forward.

1 Times Picayune, “Obama administration objects to bill with no funding for Louisianaprojects,” 7/6/11;http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/07/obama_administration_objects_t.html 2 Times Picayune, 7/6/11.3 Times Picayune, “House defeats amendment to fund ecosystem restoration work inLouisiana,” 7/12/11;http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/07/house_defeats_amendment_to_fun.html 4 Times Picayune, “Rep.s Steve Scalise and Cedric Richmond get House to spring for $1

million to restore coast, 7/16/11.5 The Advocate, “La., House panel spar over oil revenue,” 7/28/11.6 Times Picayune, “2 Democratic congressman push to strip states’ share of offshore oilrevenue,” 7/28/11;http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/07/two_democratic_congressman_say.html 7 OMB Watch, “Permanently Extending Bush Tax cuts to Cost $5 Trillion,” 11/1/10;http://www.ombwatch.org/node/11353

FactCheck.org, “Ryan’s Budget Spin,” 5/6/11; http://www.factcheck.org/2011/05/ryans-

8/3/2019 LA Coastal Restoration Casualty of GOP Policies

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/la-coastal-restoration-casualty-of-gop-policies 5/5

5 | P a g e

budget-spin/

Los Angeles Times, “Do House Republicans realize they just endorsed a higher debtlimit?”, 4/15/11; http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2011/04/do-house-republicans-realize-they-just-endorsed-a-higher-debt-limit.html 8 Times Picayune, “Oil Spill Commission Leaders Blistered by Republicans atCongressional Hearings,” 1/26/11;

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2011/01/republicans_in_congress_bliste.html 9 Times Picayune, 7/16/11.10 The Hill, “GOP Lawmaker rejects White House trip, 'lecture' from Obama,” 6/1/11;http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/164159-gop-lawmaker-rejects-white-house-trip-says-he-wont-be-lectured-to-by-obama 11

Washington Post, “Legislative riders target environmental protections,” 7/28/11;http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/legislative-riders-target-environmental-protections/2011/07/28/gIQAfL2rfI_story.html ;

New York Times, “Republicans Seek Big Cuts in Environmental Rules,” 1/27/11,http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/science/earth/28enviro.html?_r=1&emc=eta1 12 Times Picayune, 7/28/11.13 Think Progress, “Republicans Oppose Government Investments in American Economy,”1/24/11; http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/01/24/140554/republicans-oppose-investment/ ;

Center for American Progress, “Disinvesting in America: The House Republican BudgetPlan in Action,” 4/14/11;http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/04/disinvesting_america.html 14

Think Progress, “Cantor Says Congress Won't Pay for Missouri Disaster Relief UnlessSpending is Cut Elsewhere,” 5/24/11;http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/05/24/169075/cantor-disaster-relief/ 15 Congressman Richmond, “Don't Politicize Disaster Relief Funding,” 7/7/11;http://richmond.house.gov/press-release/richmond-don%E2%80%99t-politicize-disaster-relief-funding 16 Cabinet Report to the Commission on Streamlining Government, p. 1, 8/18/09;http://senate.legis.state.la.us/streamline/presentations/CabinetReports/CDRSC-1.pdf 17 BOEMRE, Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act,http://www.boemre.gov/offshore/GOMESARevenueSharing.htm 18 Times Picayune, “ Sen. Mary Landrieu's oil revenue sharing amendment denied a vote by

Senate Energy Committee, ” 7/22/11;http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/07/sen_mary_landrieus_oil_revenue.html 19 Senator Mary Landrieu, “Landrieu, Shelby Lead Bipartisan Introduction of Bill toRestore Gulf Coast,” 7/21/11; http://landrieu.senate.gov/mediacenter/pressreleases/07-21-2011-1.cfm 20 NOAA, “Trustees Announce $1 billion for Restoration Projects in Gulf of Mexico,”http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/2011/04/trustees-announce-1-billion-for-gulf-coast-restoration-projects/