Gulf Restoration Projects Begin on the Coast After BP Spill

Legal settlements from the BP oil spill are starting to trickle in and some Coast restoration projects have already begun, but local non-profit groups and businesses are concerned money from the settlement won’t benefit local residents.

Thursday in Gulfport, government officials, non-profit environmentalists, and private businesses all met to plan the future of restoration work on the Gulf Coast. Jeff Dequattro of the Nature Conservancy says, “Building the marshes, rebuilding the oyster reefs, doing all the habitat restoration projects that are gonna’ occur because of the funding.”

Mississippi is one of five states sharing in the $180 million settlement from the disaster. The money will be used to fund various restoration projects with hundreds of workers involved, but it’s not a guarantee those workers will be local. Dequattro also says, “We’re meeting today to try and figure out how we can insert local workforces on these restoration projects, to make sure we’re utilizing local people doing the work, and keeping the money in our local economies.”

To do that, non-profits need to train local workers for gulf restoration projects. So Thursday, the non-profits consulted with businesses familiar with restoration work to determine the best way to best to train local workers. Taylor Wolter, restoration work leader, says, “Also going to help build a local workforce rather than contracting out to large companies outside of the U.S. or outside of the state, which will help stimulate the economy locally along the Gulf Coast.”

The majority of the restoration work will begin next year. Non-profit groups have already begun training some locals. The organizations are recruiting local young people who would not otherwise have an opportunity to enter restoration work.

Brandon McLaurin, a local restoration worker, closes, “How to check the dissolve oxygen in the water, the salinity, the current in the water, and how well the habitats are for the fishes and other things that live in the streams and creeks. It gives job opportunities that can take you higher than what the bottom level is.”