[StBernard] Restoring the Coast

[Westley Annis]

Dear Friends - 

After months of repeated requests to BP to provide funding to reestablish
oyster beds and plant vegetation devastated by the oil spill, we stood with
coastal parish leaders on Tuesday to announce that the state would be
providing $12 million in emergency restoration funding to help our coast
recover from the effects of BP's spill. Make no mistake - we expect BP to
repay the state for all $12 million, and this funding is just one step
towards fully restoring our coast. 

Time and time again throughout the oil spill, BP promised resources and
assistance that always seemed to be too little, too late, so we repeatedly
took action by ourselves to defend the coast. Once again, we decided to take
action into our own hands and not let more of our oystermen, fishermen,
families, and communities suffer while BP stalls the recovery. As I told the
Baton Rouge Advocate
<http://cl.publicaster.com/ClickThru.aspx?pubids=393%7c7520%7c9390&digest=Gq
8NgldsRkPbuUf7eEth8g&sysid=1> , we are being forced to take coastal
protection into our own hands, rather than wait on BP as they hold up
negotiations. We want to see BP step forward and actually fulfill their
promise to "make it right." 

This week we were also pleased to see an important step towards getting the
Gulf back to work in fueling American again. After months of our pushing the
federal government to end the de facto moratorium, they finally issued the
first permit for deepwater drilling exploration. The bottom line is that
this is a good first step, but we quickly need to reach a level of
permitting that enables oil and gas industry workers to get back to work. As
I told the Monroe News-Star
<http://cl.publicaster.com/ClickThru.aspx?pubids=393%7c7521%7c9390&digest=tJ
14Auoud4PHE2Az3zdyJg&sysid=1> , seven deepwater rigs have already left the
Gulf of Mexico for other countries because of the moratorium and now it's
time to reverse that trend and get the Gulf back to work. 

We had great economic news this week when Site Selection magazine ranked
Louisiana third best in the nation for business investment, and if measured
on a per capita basis, we are now ranked number one in the country. These
are our highest rankings ever. As the Advocate
<http://cl.publicaster.com/ClickThru.aspx?pubids=393%7c7522%7c9390&digest=HU
xXgCbwWA20hOARmU7dGA&sysid=1>  reported, I said these new rankings
demonstrate once again that our commitment to keeping taxes low and
investing in workforce development programs are working.  

Yesterday, we traveled to the Northshore to break ground on a project to
widen part of I-12 from four to six lanes, so we can decrease congestion and
help improve our infrastructure so commerce can flow more easily. As I told
the New Orleans Times Picayune
<http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/sttammany/index.ssf?/base/news-10/129913740623
5030.xml&coll=1> , this project is critical to enhancing our state's
economic activity and also upgrading the region's disaster evacuation
routes. 

Finally, today I signed a new Executive Order that will bring together the
Office of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Children and Family Services,
the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Department of Education to
form a Coordinated System of Care that will help at-risk youth. As I told
the Associated Press
<http://cl.publicaster.com/ClickThru.aspx?pubids=393%7c7523%7c9390&digest=vN
hRdIILo7%2fjQ29ijLZleg&sysid=1> , with this new program, we hope to "catch
children with discipline, addiction or educational problems earlier so they
can stay at home, rather than needing state-supervised care."

Sincerely, 

Governor Bobby Jindal