Creeping towards action

Is there really still time to save Louisiana's dissolving coastal marshes? We may be one step closer to making a half-assed attempt at finding out.

WASHINGTON -- The National Oil Spill Commission released a 377-page report of findings and recommendations today based on its six-month probe of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, recommending a sweeping agenda of industry and government reforms to make safety paramount in future deepwater drilling operations.

The commission report supports directing 80 percent of civil and criminal penalties under the Clean Water Act to coastal restoration in the Gulf and raising the current $75 million cap on liability for economic damages resulting from a spill -- a limit that BP early on indicated wouldn't limit its payments in this case.

Both measures would require congressional action. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., in the Senate, and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, in the House, have bills that would require that at least 80 percent of the penalty money go to Gulf Coast restoration restoration efforts.

In September of last year, the President appointed a task force on Gulf Coast Ecosystem Recovery to recommend a plan for implementing such a project should the funds and legal authority ever materialize. You can read the commission's report here (PDF)