Today marks the beginning of arguably the biggest trial of this young century. The U.S. Department of Justice goes to court with global oil giant, BP. After spilling 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, BP could be on the hook for a record-breaking $21 billion in fines.

Gulf Coast communities are watching closely thanks to the passage of the RESTORE Act, which Oxfam and allies worked hard to pass. Eighty percent of the fine money will head directly back to the five states along the coast. And they can use the help. Since the spill, the Gulf has suffered enormous environmental damage, such as decreased oyster harvests, oiled marshes, and dying fish habitats. The economy has also taken a hit, with a significant rise in the poverty rate, and rough times for those in the fishing and tourism industries.

People like Byron Enclade, a 3rd generation oyster fisherman from East Pointe A’La Hache, Louisiana, will be watching the BP trial proceedings closely. Enclade is the president of the Louisiana Oystermen Association and the South Plaquemines United Fisheries Cooperative. Photo: Audra Melton / Oxfam America

With the money most likely on the way then, and the needs so acute, the question is: how to invest it most effectively? Unfortunately, with so many interests at play, discussions have at times devolved, often to a stark debate between the economy and the environment.

Oxfam America and others have a simple response. We can address both environmental and economic interests at the same time. We recently joined with The Nature Conservancy and business allies as well as community leaders to raise our voices in support of just such an agenda.

On February 19, leaders from over 120 businesses and industry associations, operating in more than 800 locations along the Gulf and generating more than $20 billion in annual revenues, delivered a letter to the five Gulf Coast governors to say that a healthy ecosystem is a key to driving private sector job growth, future prosperity, and fostering economic mobility. They called for using RESTORE Act funds to make critical environmental investments in restoring wetlands, barrier islands and oyster reefs, together with funding for worker training, i.e. preparing dislocated, low income and disadvantaged workers for jobs in these projects.

“These restoration projects create a demand for work from a wide variety of companies in the engineering, construction, transportation and manufacturing sectors,” said Thomas Matthews, of the marine construction firm Matthews Brothers, Inc. in Pass Christian, Mississippi. “I have witnessed firsthand that investments in coastal restoration can mean jobs for coastal workers and economic growth for local businesses and communities.”

Auburn Wessman of Phylway Construction in Thibodaux, Louisiana wrote in an Houma Courier op-ed, “[M]any of us in the business community believe the best solution is clear: We can use Restore Act money to spur the economy while we restore the environment and protect our communities. And we can employ local workers while we do it — a win for everyone.”

In an op-ed published in Sunday’s New Orleans Times Picayune, Patrick Barnes, President of the consultancy firm, Barnes, Ferland & Associates, Inc., and founder of the New Orleans-based training organization Limitless Vistas, Inc., said, “Our restoration plans could benefit from including efforts to prepare local, low income and disadvantaged workers for these new restoration jobs…We have a chance to bring industry, communities, and training institutions together to identify the necessary skill sets and training programs to prepare our state’s workforce to conduct future restoration projects.”

Last week, officials from the US Department of Commerce and the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council held public hearings along the Gulf on a comprehensive plan to use spill fines.  At one meeting, Rebecca Templeton, an Oxfam partner at Bayou Grace Community Services in Chauvin, Louisiana, reported that community groups agree with the business leaders that we need to invest in ecosystem restoration—at the same that we fund worker training and policies to help local people find work on these projects. “If we have the support of the business community, then hopefully the local people made most vulnerable by land loss will have a chance as well at the livelihood opportunities that will arise,” she said urging the Council to make ecosystem restoration job training a priority.

While the BP trial may result in many billions of dollars for the region, a recent settlement between the US Department of Justice and the owners of the rig that exploded, Transocean, will start to send $1 billion in fines to the region as early as April.

Hopefully this is just the beginning. All of us remain hopeful that we can tap into new opportunities to bring vulnerable communities, business leaders, and government together to tackle these economic and environment challenges effectively.

In the meantime, like everyone else, we’ll be watching to see what happens in court!

Every Sunday, my wife and I make a pot of coffee and settle in to watch our favorite political shows—“Sunday Morning” on CBS and “Meet the Press” on NBC. Every week, we cringe when it goes to commercial and we hear the Zydeco music kick in: here comes BP, trumpeting the message that the Gulf of Mexico is not only doing A-OK, but better than ever two and a half years after the largest offshore oil spill in our nation’s history. In one, Mike Ulster, a BP executive handling cleanup and damages, cites BP’s commitment of billions of dollars to ecological and economic restoration and says, “People in the Gulf measure commitment by what’s getting done.” In terms of paying those who lost income in the spill, BP, has paid billions to date in economic damages and is on the verge reaching a settlement with many parties, despite vocal concerns from many in the fishing industry about not accounting for unknowns of long-term impacts.

But in addressing ecological restoration, the reality is that BP just isn’t measuring up to its commitments.

It looked good at first. BP committed a down payment of $1 billion to start the work of repairing the ecological damage wrought by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. However, over a year and a half later, BP has approved only $66 million in ecological restoration projects—less than seven percent of the promised money. At this rate, it would take about 25 years to “measure up” and fulfill their commitment.

And make no mistake: timing is critical. We still don’t know the extent of the damage, but we do know that we need to act fast to mitigate the long-lasting effects and restore the vital resources of the Gulf Coast. For example, Prince William Sound’s herring fishery took a big hit after the Exxon Valdez disaster; but it didn’t totally collapse until four years later. Had action been taken to repair herring habitat, who knows what could have been prevented? While BP is dragging its heels and “slow walking” the process, key ecosystems are languishing.

Shrimp and oyster harvests have been down since the spill, crushing the spirits and livelihoods of thousands of working families. But the effects may extend further; oysters take two to three years to mature, and the bays and bayous are still suffering from the 4.9 million barrels of oil that hit the area in 2010. After Hurricane Isaac, Louisiana closed 12 miles of coastline because of thousands of pounds of oiled debris washing up—the same oil that leaked during the spill.

Under BP’s agreement on early restoration, BP must approve with relevant state and federal agency heads what projects are considered and has the final say on what moves forward.

Project ideas are out there. State and federal trustees have drafted plans that would repair damage, reduce storm surge, protect livelihoods, and more. Louisiana and Mississippi have both proposed significant sets of projects, costing hundreds of millions of dollars, which would restore barrier islands, wetlands, and fisheries. Other states have also engaged with coastal communities in finding solution. But despite having good projects ready to go, the approvals to move forward on vital projects are not materializing.

So, with less than seven percent of this initial commitment to the Gulf Coast  met, it’s fair to say BP must do a better job of working fairly with the state and federal trustee to move projects forward.

On another front, a BP-backed trade group, the American Petroleum Institute, has sued the Securities and Exchange Commission to try to overturn a landmark anti-corruption and transparency regulation that requires all oil, gas and mining companies to disclose their payments to governments both overseas and here at home. In the US, this Oxfam-supported regulation will give Gulf communities a picture of how much BP pays the Federal government in royalties and taxes for each offshore license in the Gulf. Yet another situation where BP talks a good game—in this case with public commitments to transparency—but has refused to follow through in doing the right thing: publicly backing away from this lawsuit which is trying to overturn a landmark disclosure law.

The question to Mr. Ulster: Is your company really willing to do what it takes to measure up?

When Hurricane Isaac took another punch at the Gulf Coast in late August, it exposed yet again how imperative it is to invest in restoring the region’s battered environment and the economy. Oxfam America has been engaging leaders in the private sector in planning how to make best use of the billions of dollars coming to the region as a result of the RESTORE the Gulf States Act. The Act will send 80% of Clean Water Act fines back to the Gulf—from $5 to $21 billion.

This past Tuesday, Oxfam America and The Nature Conservancy were joined in Washington, DC by Atkins, a global engineering firm, and Calvert Investments for meetings with several federal agencies that will be implementing the Act.

Why would an engineering company like Atkins and an investment firm like Calvert be interested in how monies on the Gulf get spent?

As an investor in companies in the Gulf, Calvert wants to be sure that their holdings are not at risk as a result of climate hazards. As Rebecca Henson, Calvert’s Senior Sustainability Analyst told staffers at the Environmental Protection Agency, “Calvert Investments wants to support the companies in which it has holdings in their determination to be more resilient when faced with the next storm. These funds have the potential to decrease the region’s vulnerability and increase its resiliency by restoring the coastline and creating real economic development.”

Atkins Senior Vice President Doug Robison told staffers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that “coastal restoration projects have the opportunity to wrap together both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum as it relates to jobs. It will put to work scientists and engineers together with construction and monitoring crews. This is a growing industry sector and a once in a lifetime opportunity to invest in the Gulf economically and environmentally.”

This week President Obama signed an Executive Order creating the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council which is mandated by the RESTORE Act to create a comprehensive restoration plan. That plan has the potential to protect the precarious coastal communities that have been victim to one storm after another through ecosystem restoration. But it also has the potential to revitalize the Gulf’s economy by working with the Gulf States to ready a local workforce to take on the jobs created through projects the Council will administer. Let’s hope they don’t pass on this opportunity.

Last week Oxfam, The Nature Conservancy, and Coast Builders Coalition hosted a forum, Rebuilding Our Economy, Restoring Our Environment in Thibodaux, Louisiana—ground zero for some of the most severe climate hazards that Louisiana has experienced. The forum brought together a diverse set of stakeholders from the private sector, government, workforce agencies, conservation and environmental organizations and community groups to promote workforce development and training in coastal restoration projects.

Over 50 companies representing engineering, construction, environmental consulting and dredging firms came to the forum to hear from the Louisiana Economic Development and Workforce agencies, the Louisiana Community and Technical Colleges along with a presentation from Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. What became clear throughout the day was that these folks needed to talk to one another much more. With Louisiana losing 16 square miles of coastline per year, coastal communities are on the front lines every day. Before their communities literally wash away, we will need to see these stakeholders coming together more often to collaborate on the best ways to save coastal Louisiana while making sure that local communities are more resilient for the next storm.

A few steps forward in this effort were already made and announced at the forum. Bryan Moore from the Louisiana Workforce Agency told the audience that he would dedicate a staff person specifically towards the coastal restoration industry to collaborate with the industry and other stakeholders to ready a local labor force with the appropriate skill sets needed for costal restoration projects. Good for industry but better yet for those communities that have seen their livelihoods in the fishing industry damaged by the BP oil spill. Derrick Manns, Vice President of the Louisiana Community and Technical College system said he would work on bring training programs into the communities where out of work fishermen and unemployed workers live.

Last month, Congress passed the bi-partisan bill known as the RESTORE the Gulf States Act. This law will send 80% of Clean Water Act fines back to the Gulf to restore and rebuild the region’s battered economy and environment. The sum of fines could be anywhere from 5-20 billion which presents a real opportunity for the Gulf states that could be squandered if the monies are not used as means of investment in those communities that have been hit the hardest by climate hazards. As Reverend Edwards from the Zion Travelers Cooperative Center put it at the forum, “Louisiana has seen big money before, like after Katrina, but it never gets into the communities, we need it to get into the communities if we are ever going to see things change.”

At the forum, Oxfam America and The Nature Conservancy presented a new report entitled “Rebuilding Our Economy, Restoring Our Environment: How the Emerging Restoration Economy Offers New and Expanded Opportunities for Gulf Coast Businesses and Communities.” The report notes the importance of the Gulf Coast to the country’s environment and economy and explores the potential of the new restoration economy to employ people, revitalize the economy, and repair vital ecosystems.

Both the report and the forum are a result of a new partnership by Oxfam American and The Nature Conservancy. This partnership is predicated on the idea that what is good for the environment is good for communities. Particularly in the Gulf, where people’s livelihoods are so intertwined with the Gulf’s rich natural resources, the environment must be preserved and restored if those livelihoods are to remain sustainable. We chose to partner with The Nature Conservancy because their goals and capacities lie in helping to restore the Gulf’s degraded ecosystems for the benefit of nature and people. The Conservancy has been part of the gulf Coast community for more than 35 years and with partners, has helped to protect or restore more than 3 million acres in the five Gulf States. Since 1994, Oxfam has been committed to working in the Gulf Coast—a region where the people are uniquely linked to the environment, and thus particularly sensitive to disruptions. “Our partnership with Oxfam has broadened our thinking about our goals in the Gulf. It’s extremely rewarding to know that our joint efforts will not only improve our coastal environments but also help ensure that our unique culture and way of life are preserved for generations to come,” said Cindy Brown, Director of TNC’s Gulf of Mexico Program.

As restoration continues in the Gulf of Mexico, there is still much work to be done; restoring the Gulf will not be easy or quick, but it can be done. And to be successful, restoration must focus as much on the needs of and benefits to people as it does to the lands and waters. To that end, Oxfam is proud to partner with The Nature Conservancy to promote restoration in the Gulf of Mexico. But for coastal communities to survive it’s going to take a lot more than two non-governmental organizations working together… business, communities and government agencies will have to have lots more conversations but the forum was a great start.

Out of the tragedy of the 2010 BP oil disaster, we could soon see hope emerge. New legislation, the RESTORE the Gulf Coast States Act, just passed by Congress, could bring billions of dollars in resources and a range of new opportunities for environmental restoration, fighting poverty, and promoting economic mobility.

According to the Pew Center on the States, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas rank among the worst states in the country for economic mobility: whether it’s the ability of a child born into a poor family to climb the economic ladder or the likelihood of a middle class family to fall into poverty.

They are also home to fishing communities like Dulac, LA, Apalachicola, FL, Bayou La Batre, AL, Point au La Hatche, LA and Pascagoula, MS, which face double to triple the national poverty rates. These communities have always been places of limited means, but a healthy Gulf put a roof over the heads and food on the table of families for generations. But now, after Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, small multi-generational family fishing and seafood enterprises are under threat.

"This is the first time in generations we have had our waters taken from us." Byron Enclade, President of the Louisiana Oystermen Association. Photo: Audra Melton/Oxfam.

The full extent of the spill’s ecological damages is unknown, but in many places shrimp, oyster, and crab catches are down. This means underemployed shrimp boat captains, oyster harvesters, and deckhands and layoffs at processing plants. The loss of income has stretched social services as proud, formerly self-reliant people are forced to turn to community nonprofit agencies and food pantries for assistance.

It’s not just the recent disasters that have bruised the Gulf; over many years, the region has lost 50 percent of its inland and coastal wetlands and oyster reefs. Over the next 20 years, the Gulf is vulnerable to an estimated $300 billion in economic damages from hurricanes, coastal erosion, sea level rise, and flooding.

Recognizing this challenge, a coalition of Gulf State legislators led by Senators Mary Landrieu, Bill Nelson and Richard Shelby, along with Reps. Steve Scalise, Palazzo, and Cedric Richmond, together with community, environmental, and business allies navigated historic legislation to direct 80% of as much as $21 billion in 2010 BP oil spill civil fines back to economic and environmental restoration of the Gulf Coast states.

While how these dollars are spent lies in the hands of state and federal decision makers, they provide an opportunity for new resources for oyster reef construction, marsh building, and strengthening living shorelines and barrier islands to help restore damaged ecosystems and reduce vulnerability to hazards. They can also help put people back to work and provide new pathways out of the current struggles along the coast and towards economic mobility.

Every million invested in ecosystem restoration creates between 17-39 jobs according to Oxfam research. Restoring coastal wetlands, barrier islands, and oyster reefs can create good, family supporting wage jobs from welders, to civil engineering technicians, to dredge boat captains, to heavy equipment operators, skills which are already in demand locally, while also restoring our fisheries for future generations.

These jobs can also be a good source of economic opportunity. According to Ancil Taylor, Vice President of C.F. Bean, a Belle Chase, LA-based dredging firm, “If you come in at an entry level, work hard, and stay with it, there really is a chance to move up the ladder. A young man who began working with Bean as a dishwasher “worked his way up within the crew to become a US Coast Guard certified captain piloting one of our vessels.”

The sponsors of this bill deserve enormous kudos, but the job is not done. Now we need to ensure federal government and the state decision makers entrusted with these funds get the right policies and programs in place not only to restore this incredible natural resource, but to ensure we use these funds to create economic opportunity for low income, disadvantaged, and underemployed coastal workers, including fishery workers.

Positive examples exist on the Coast: from training fishermen in the bayou to be certified marine personnel, helping shrimpers in Oceans Springs to learn welding, or training at risk youth in New Orleans to be environmental technicians. The Louisiana First Hiring Act and the Mississippi Jobs First Act have also created new opportunity by placing qualified local workers in restoration and recovery projects.

Now we need to connect the dots and bring industry, community, workforce institutions and government together—to provide new career pathways out of poverty and build more resilient communities.

As Louisiana literally sinks into the Gulf of Mexico—wetlands disappearing at the rate of a football field per hour or so—it becomes imperative and even urgent to find ways to stop coastal land loss. Five years ago, Congress recognized the need for action, and approved the Louisiana Coastal Area Program (LCA), which authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to plan and construct several large scale ecosystem restoration projects.

A scene from Southern Louisiana. Valerie Downes/Oxfam America.

It’s one thing to come up with a plan (and a website); it’s another to come up with the money to fund the projects and make them happen. Since approving the program in 2007, Congress has yet to fund the construction of the projects. While time ticks on, the challenge only grows: land loss accelerates, projects get much more expensive and people are put at greater risk of being displaced. The longer the wait, the thornier (and more expensive) it gets to take effective action.

Last week, the White House made a bold move in insisting that the House Appropriations Committee send money toward the LCA, or it would veto the entire Energy and Water Appropriations Bill; as the Energy and Water Subcommittee relented on their threat to cut these funds, the result is a modest but significant beginning of new construction aimed at restoration.

In the past two budget cycles, President Obama has made requests for the Army Corps of Engineers to fund LCA restoration construction. Last year, the Energy and Water Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee reduced the requested $16.2 to $1 million (the federal budget outlay was roughly $3.8 trillion). In the end, it was zeroed out altogether.

This year, the President requested $16.8 million; then watched as the House Energy and Water Subcommittee struck it out of their proposed bill. The funds fell victim to a misguided debate where subcommittee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) claimed, despite significant evidence to the contrary, that ecosystem restoration projects did not create jobs, like other navigation or flood protection projects constructed by the Army Corps.

This time around, however, the White House took the bold step of threatening a veto if the appropriations bill did not include some funding for the LCA. In a statement released two weeks ago, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) called on the House to restore funding for several priority Army Corps of Engineers projects. Shortly after, Reps. Steve Scalise, R-LA and Cedric Richmond, D-LA, proposed an amendment to restore $10 million for the program; the move was passed 216-177 on June 1.

While $10 million is a modest sum compared to the $50 billion in projected projects planned in the state of Louisiana to thwart land loss, Congressional support for breaking ground on new construction is critical. Once the construction starts, it will be easier to get funding in future cycles to complete these projects.

Ironically, these types of ecosystem restoration projects have benefits on many levels, including creating abundant jobs that pay well and can employ local residents. Patrick Barnes, President of BFA Environmental Consulting and founder of a job training nonprofit organization, cites the benefits to the local economy. “These projects will generate all types of jobs: from data collection to manual labor to engineering and more. A lot of it is physical labor and field inspection, and we can train for these types of skills.”

Investing in these projects would benefit the local and national economy; reduce risk (this is hurricane season after all); help the unemployed and underemployed; and protect and restore the environment and wildlife. (Beyond Recovery, a joint report from Oxfam and the Center for American Progress explores the benefits of restoration projects.)

As the White House puts it: “Investing in these areas is critical to the Nation’s economic growth, security, and global competitiveness. The Administration also strongly objects to the inclusion of ideological and political provisions that are beyond the scope of funding legislation.”

The White House deserves credit for being willing to stick its proverbial neck out for coastal Louisiana—not exactly within the President’s political base—and risk delaying a big bill like this in an election year, in order to protect vulnerable communities along the coast.

And yet again, Reps. Scalise and Richmond are showing Congress that big challenges (like losing landmass the size of Rhode Island) can be tackled with sensible bipartisan solutions to, quite literally, put money where our mouth has been—in this case since 2007.

Last week the Louisiana legislature passed the Louisiana Master Plan for Coastal Protection. The Master Plan is the most comprehensive effort by a state to address the effects of climate change. While there has been resistance across the US South to address the effects climate change, Louisiana has experienced severe climate related hazards including hurricanes and sea level rise which have contributed to the erosion of its coastline at an alarming rate. Below is a guest column that was published on May 26 in the Times-Picayune by Ray Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, and J. Wayne Leonard, CEO of Entergy, which discusses the significance of this event.

When extreme weather hits, communities suffer in myriad ways: homes are destroyed, businesses lost, ecosystems ravaged. As the heads of a national energy company and a global humanitarian organization, we’ve seen the damages first hand, and engaged in the painstaking and often dangerous work of recovery and restoration. We believe it’s time to rally together to recognize the dangers of a changing climate, and to invest in reducing risk and building resilience.

At Entergy, we have a unique perspective on climate change. Our product—power—is vital to the public good. Extreme weather puts the reliability of our product at risk, and we must work with our communities to prepare for and respond to these hazards.

At Oxfam, we work to find lasting solutions to global poverty—and the weather is literally working against us. Of the 820 disasters recorded last year, 90 percent were related to severe weather. Climate change is playing a role in this, and it’s the poorest—at home and around the world—who are affected most acutely, and find their struggle against poverty increasingly difficult.

Our worlds intersect especially along America’s Gulf Coast, where already socially vulnerable communities have recently been hit hard by the forces of Mother Nature. Hurricane Katrina brought historic devastation, then Hurricanes Rita, Ike and Gustav added to the toll. These events also provide a glimpse of what our future could look like continuously, if we don’t invest in building more resilient, sustainable communities. With the loss of natural protections from coastal wetlands, and sea level rise, the Gulf Coast could see more than $350 billion in weather-related losses by 2030.

This is why we applaud the leadership of the state of Louisiana, which developed and approved the Master Plan for Coastal Protection and Restoration. This plan itemizes $50 billion in investments over 50 years: restoring wetland habitat and building flood protection by restoring natural buffers to hurricanes and storm surges (marshes and barrier islands).

These actions—combined with cost-effective measures like adopting building codes to harden structures, elevating housing, and facilitating better planning—will reduce future losses. While the master plan is designed first and foremost to address land loss that has occurred due to human interventions stretching back almost a century, including river control structures and oil and gas development, threats to the region will be greatly multiplied by the predicted effects of climate change, including sea level rise and increased storm intensity.

Importantly, the actions included in the master plan represent a far-sighted and proactive solution that will help safeguard the citizens and industries of the Gulf Coast from the consequences of human actions, both historic and ongoing.

This plan provides economic opportunity for thousands—as businesses hire dredge operators, engineers, welders, biologists and boat captains—all while strengthening communities. The growing innovation and expertise can then be exported around the world. These measures will enable the Gulf Coast to continue to be the backbone of our nation’s economy and a safe home to the people who make it a national treasure.

Our country has been slow to accept the reality and risks of climate change. But it is absolutely essential at this point. With Oxfam, Entergy has joined companies representing a range of sectors—insurance to finance, apparel to food—to promote the importance of taking action. We believe that responsible business practices and strong policies will help us prepare for and respond to climate change. Failing to act will mean much greater costs later—in dollars and cents, and in human suffering.

No matter our different perspectives, we end up at the same place: determined to act together to improve our ability to cope with the profound effects of climate change. The choice is ours to make; the time to make it is now.

J. Wayne Leonard is CEO of Entergy Corp. and Raymond C. Offenheiser is president of Oxfam America.

Faith and fishing: two central parts of Louisiana’s vibrant coastal culture. Every April, going back generations, you can see them intersect in a celebration of bayou life at the annual Blessing of the Fleet in Chauvin, LA. Families welcome the opening of the year’s first shrimp season by coming together to pray for family and friends who depend on the seafood industry and for a healthy ecosystem that yields a bountiful catch.

“We pray for the safety and welfare of all fishermen,” said Fr. Frederic Brunet, pastor of St. Joseph Catholic church who has presided over the event for many years. “Bless the shrimp and crabs and help us to catch a lot of them.”

Fr. Frederic Brunet of St. Joseph Catholic Church at the annual Blessing of the Fleet. Photo by Bayou Grace.

This year saw the second blessing since the BP Oil Spill shut down the Gulf fishing industry in 2010. Since then, many shrimpers have reported problems: poor catches and startling irregularities (such as shrimp with no eyes). Fishers working in commercial oyster beds say the harvests are down as much as fifty percent. Many people believe these changes are related to the spill. While scientists question what may be causing these issues (research into the impact of the spill on fisheries is still ongoing), the fears, and the difficulties, remain.

For many years, communities of faith have provided a safety net to fisher families impacted by bad seasons or disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the BP spill. They have also seen firsthand the vital connection between the health of natural resources and the life of the community. When Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, the key nursery of seafood across the Gulf, suffer from erosion and pollution, the whole community suffers.

Bayou Grace Community Services in Chauvin (an Oxfam partner) was founded as a disaster relief group, first operating out of a local church, after the 2005 hurricanes. The group later refocused on the biggest issue facing the future of their community: coastal land loss.

“This is an area that has lost 1,900 square miles of coastal land, more man-made land loss than anywhere in the world. How do we change that? It will take national will, the will for a national investment, and a decision that this place is worth saving,” said Rebecca Templeton, director of Bayou Grace, which debuted a photo series highlighting why it is worth saving the coast at this year’s Blessing of the Fleet.

Other Oxfam partners—like Zion Travelers Cooperative Center in Phoenix, LA, led by Rev. Tyronne Edwards, BISCO in Thibodeaux, LA led by Sharon Gauthe and Mary Queen of Vietnam CDC in New Orleans East led by Diem Nguyen—share similar stories of founding within faith institutions and evolving missions to protect communities and livelihoods along the coast in the face of multiple economic and environmental threats.

This week, these community leaders joined together to send a letter to leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives urging support for the RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act. This bill would invest fines from the BP oil spill into restoring natural resources along the Gulf, and helping create local jobs on restoration projects; the goal is to put fishers harmed by poor catches back to work restoring these resources to protect their communities and help ensure future generations can continue fishing and living along the coast. Rebecca, Sharon, Rev. Edwards, and Diem united their voices with over 140 faith leaders, including national figures like Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners, Mitch Hescox of Evangelical Environmental Network, and Rabbi David Saperstein, Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism. As we noted earlier, The U.S. Senate passed the RESTORE Act as a part of their long-term transportation bill in March.

“We urge you to do what is best for the Gulf Coast—and for all Americans—by working to guarantee that the RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act is signed into law by the President, ensuring a response to the oil spill which is effective, and just, meets the needs of those suffering today while laying a foundation for long-term restoration and renewal,” the leaders say in the letter.

In a breaking development, the Rules Committee in the US House of Representatives today will consider a US House version of the transportation bill (H.R. 4248), which includes the RESTORE Act. The full House could vote on the bill as early as Wednesday, leading to a conference committee, with both chambers passing transportation bills which include the RESTORE Act.

Passing this legislation in the House will be a critical step towards helping to restore coastal communities and support the livelihoods in the aftermath of our nation’s largest oil spill and the long-term devastation of coastal land loss along the Gulf.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the RESTORE Act possibly coming for a vote in the Senate. Good news! Yesterday the Senate voted for its strong bipartisan approval of an amendment to dedicate 80 percent of the civil fines from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster to restoring Gulf communities, ecosystems and the economy. The amendment to the Senate transportation bill, introduced by Senators Mary Landrieu, Bill Nelson, and Richard Shelby was based on the RESTORE the Gulf Coast States Act, sponsored by the three members and six other Gulf State Senators. Out of 76 votes in favor of RESTORE, 23 were Republican and 53 were Democrat.

Oxfam has been advocating for workforce development and training funds within the RESTORE Act as a way to decrease the social vulnerability of impacted communities living on the coast. We worked with faith groups and with private sector companies to let Senators know why RESTORE has such great potential for creating much needed jobs. Oxfam supporters have been weighing in all week with calls to their Senators which really helped push the bill forward.

Now, the House will need to vote on a similar measure. If they do, they will be supporting Gulf coast communities and the many people there that rely on a healthy environment for both their lives and their livelihoods like fishing and tourism.

As Mardi Gras wraps up in New Orleans, it is a pivotal moment for the Gulf region. On February 27th, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill trial is set to begin and may be the largest litigation in environmental history. The trial could result in BP having to pay billions of dollars in fines and damages for their negligence in the oil spill that left thousands without livelihoods that were dependent on the Gulf ecosystems. But none of that money will go to the Gulf region unless Congress passes legislation to do so. There is good news—exciting movement is happening on the RESTORE Act, introduced by Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) and co-sponsored by several Senators in the Gulf delegation. RESTORE would send 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines that BP will have to pay back to the region. Without legislation, the fines remain in an Oil Spill Trust Fund.

The RESTORE Act would fund projects that restore the coast which are vital to the communities along the coastline that rely heavily on their environment for fishing, tourism, and other industries. I’ve written about RESTORE before here and here. April 20th will mark the two year anniversary of the BP oil spill, and nothing would honor that date more than the passage of the RESTORE Act. Our partner, the Zion Travelers Cooperative Center (ZTCC) has long recognized that working on coastal restoration is as much an environmental issue as it is a social justice one. This video demonstrates the importance of coastal restoration to socially vulnerable communities living on the coast and Reverend Edwards, ZTCC Executive Director, has been organizing those communities for years in an effort to ensure their survival.

Another partner of Oxfam’s, Bayou Grace, has been working with volunteers from across the country to educate them about what it means to restore coastal Louisiana. After all, as a New York Times editorial pointed out, “twenty percent of the seafood caught in the United States in 2009 came from the gulf. (That dropped to 16 percent in 2010, when vast areas of the gulf were closed.)” The Gulf region and the industries there like seafood, tourism, navigation, and oil and gas depend on the region’s resources and environment. They are vital not only to the region but to America’s economy as well. But the picture below says it better than any statistic and is part of Bayou Grace’s “Why Save Coastal Louisiana Photo Project.”

Photo by Bayou Grace

Time is of the essence because if BP settles the litigation before Congress acts, the fines could get caught up in the settlement. That means that all the good work that was put into ensuring that coastal restoration projects protect and employ those living in socially vulnerable communities like Plaquemines Parish could be negotiated away. The RESTORE Act represents a bi-partisan effort among the five Gulf States coming together in the interest of the region and making real sacrifices to revitalize the region economically and environmentally. The BP trial will determine how much money BP has to pay, but let’s leave it to our elected officials at the federal and state level to determine how those fines get spent for restoring the Gulf.

While Congress is on recess this week, there is word from leadership offices in the Senate that they may let the RESTORE Act come to a vote as early as next week in the form of an amendment to the transportation bill. Make sure Congress does the right thing and put a call into Senator Reid (D-NV) and Senator McConnell (R-KY) and tell them to let the RESTORE Act come to a vote.