A contingent from the eight Northwest Florida counties that stand to gain the most when BP money starts flowing through the federal RESTORE Act traveled to Tallahassee on Tuesday to tell state officials to keep their hands off of the region’s windfall.
Their outcry against an amendment that was slipped into state Senate Bill 1024 on Friday also was heard in Washington D.C.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and U.S. Reps. Jeff Miller and Steve Southerland responded with letters in support of the local governments.
“I’d expect you to veto (the amended bill) if it runs contrary to the intentions of federal law,” Nelson said in his letter to Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
Read U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson's letter. >>
Read the letter from U.S. Reps. Jeff Miller and Steve Southerland. >>
Representatives from Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf, Franklin and Wakulla counties — which stand to receive 75 percent of millions of dollars expected to come to Florida through the RESTORE Act — voiced opposition to an amendment that would create a nonprofit organization called Triumph Gulf Coast.
They fear the state wants to circumvent federal law that states RESTORE Act funds “shall be provided directly” to their eight counties considered disproportionately affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and use Triumph Gulf Coast as its own mechanism for distributing the money.
State Senate President Don Gaetz insists Triumph Gulf Coast is being created to collect and distribute funds that could come from a lawsuit filed by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi against BP.
The state couldn’t touch the RESTORE Act funds even if it wanted to, he said.
“Federal law trumps state law in any case,” Gaetz said.
On Tuesday, Senate leaders even offered an amendment to Friday’s amendment to help put Northwest Florida officials at ease.
Read the issue brief by the Senate Majority Office. >>
That wasn’t enough, and local officials were left wondering why the words “RESTORE Act” remained in the newest version.
“Leave the words RESTORE Act out completely,” suggested Okaloosa County Commissioner Dave Parisot, one of those who traveled to Tallahassee. “Say it only applies to funds coming from the attorney general’s lawsuit.
State Sen. Greg Evers’ office worked into the evening Tuesday trying to clarify the latest version of legislation creating Triumph Gulf Coast. Evers, R-Baker, dubbed the leadership’s new effort “clear as mud.”
Evers said the worry comes because the federal government has yet to establish its means to disperse RESTORE Act funds.
If Washington decides simply to write lump-sum checks to each of five states that will receive a portion of BP fine money, Evers asked, could someone in Florida government deposit the money in a bank account controlled by Triumph Gulf Coast?
“We’ve still got some major questions as we try to assure these funds go to the counties as intended by the federal government,” he said. “I know the Senate president is trying to work towards that. I just want to be sure.”
In a letter addressed to U.S. Treasury Department Secretary Jack Lew, Reps. Miller and Southerland said Congress “made clear its intent that the lion’s share of RESTORE Act funds go directly to the areas hardest hit by the spill.”
“We urge you to adhere to the clear and unambiguous intent of the law by allowing local officials in the disproportionately affected counties to spearhead their own recovery efforts,” said the letter, which was signed by Miller and Southerland.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.