B.A.S.S., the Louisiana Wildlife Federation (LWF) and the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) are proud to announce that a bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators from the Gulf Coast region are co-sponsoring the Restore Gulf Coast Act.
The Restore Gulf Coast Act would ensure that fines from last year’s BP oil spill are used to help restore the Gulf ecosystem. The co-sponsoring senators are Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), David Vitter (R-La.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Marco Rubio, (R-Fla.) and Kay Bailey-Hutchison (R-Texas). Landrieu and Shelby were the original co-sponsors of the bill.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has pledged to consider this bill in her committee quickly. Boxer was instrumental in securing the agreement among the senators.
The NWF commends the senators for choosing to get behind this bill.
“The Gulf region has suffered from years of degradation, and the oil spill added insult to injury,” said Land Tawney, NWF’s senior manager for sportsmen leadership. “We look forward to working with the Gulf delegation, other members of Congress and the administration on passage of a bill that makes this critical ecosystem whole again.
“The Mississippi River Delta is a national treasure,” continued Tawney, “important to hunters and anglers from all corners of our country. We applaud the efforts led by Sens. Landrieu and Shelby to restore this ‘Sportsman’s Paradise.’”
Noreen Clough, B.A.S.S. National Conservation Director, joined Tawney in praising what the NWF calls a “Vanishing Paradise.” “Time and again, B.A.S.S. tournaments have demonstrated the treasure of the Delta fishery, and we are pleased to be part of the efforts to revitalize this paradise.”
B.A.S.S. joined the LWF and the NWF in a partnership during the 2011 Bassmaster Classic when B.A.S.S. visited New Orleans to fish the Louisiana Delta. The organizationspromote the restoration, revitalization and protection of Louisiana’s imperiled coastal wetlands and the reconnection of the Mississippi river to its Delta.
Nearly 500 miles — almost half — of the coastline in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida that was contaminated by the Gulf oil spill remain oiled one year later, according to the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration.
You, too, can help restore this national treasure Learn more at VanishingParadise.org. Join B.A.S.S. and 500 other businesses and organizations by signing your business or organization on to the letter to Congress.