Listen
The next step in the long process of repairing the damage from the blowout of the Macondo well is getting underway. State wildlife officials will share their restoration plans Tuesday evening in Galveston.
The public hearing will lay out the goals to get the Gulf Coast back to what it looked like before the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010.
"Those (goals) are to restore and conserve habitat, restore water quality, replenish and protect living and coastal marine resources, and provide and enhance recreational opportunities," says Tom Harvey with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
This round of hearings is to give the public some idea of how the $238 million the state is expected to get from the proposed settlement with BP would be spent.
"Not in terms of specific projects, but in terms of a broad plan that breaks it down into categories: wetlands, oysters, sea turtles, and various other kinds of natural resources," Harvey said.
Harvey adds it could take up to two years before some of those restoration projects are underway. That's because every state has to hold public hearings on their general plans before a federal judge signs off on the $8 billion settlement. Then specific projects can be drafted and put up for bid.
Tuesday evening's public hearing on Gulf restoration begins at 6 o'clock at the Hilton Galveston Island Resort on Seawall Blvd.
