Local reporter shares her research on Coast BP development

Sun Herald Investigative Reporter Anita Lee spoke to the Gulf Coast Business Council today about the spending of money from the BP oil catastrophe and economic development.

Business Council members listened and asked questions as Lee presented information on her research, which she worked on for about a year as a part of a fellowship with Pro Publica.

Her work specifically focused on the job criteria due to the Coast needing better paying jobs and overall having lower salary range.

Lee says she learned that legislators are not following a set plan for economic development, hoping other different types of economic projects will pay off.

However, there is no guarantee that it will and insists that there’s one project we should adapt to. Lee said, “Rolls Royce Project in Jackson County hit a lot of the buttons. There’s a big private investment in that project. They got workforce training to go with it. It’s going to create jobs and be a good thing for the community it looks like.”

Lee says it took a village of other editors and journalists to help her and she hopes the community will have some takeaways from her notes to improve the Coast.