GULFPORT — Ray Mabus chose the Ken Combs Pier to announce to Mississippi the plan for restoring the Gulf he presented to President Obama today asks Congress to send some of the BP penalty money here.
Mabus is the Secretary of the Navy, but Obama also assigned Mabus the task of overseeing a plan for the Gulf recovery. And Mabus said it recommends asking Congress to send a “significant portion” of the penalty BP will pay for violating The Clean Water Act to the five Gulf states hit hard by the spill.
Otherwise, he said, the money would go to a federal oil-spill trust fund and wait for the next spill.
If things go according to plan, Congress would set up a council with state and federal representation to oversee the money and make sure it goes to the people hurt by the oil spill. The plan also calls for a smaller amount to be sent to the states to manage.
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