How will the coastal restoration plan be funded once oil spill money runs dry?

Louisiana’s largest sources of money to pay for coastal restoration and protection work will run dry within the next decade, leaving the state far short of the cash needed to fulfill its master plan, respond to climate change and safeguard its residents and businesses, according to a new commentary from the Public Affairs Research Council. 

The state’s Coastal Master Plan currently relies heavily on dollars stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 that devastated Louisiana’s coastal ecosystems by spewing millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Because of the widespread environmental damage, Louisiana received $8.7 billion in settlement and recovery dollars, much of it divvied up from 2017 through 2031 and most of it allocated to coastal work.

That annual support has become essential to paying for Louisiana’s multibillion-dollar, multiyear plan aimed at combating alarming levels of land loss across southern parishes that is driven by climate change, subsidence, sea level rise, hurricanes, levees constructed around the Mississippi River and other causes.

Projects contained in the master plan target both restoration work and reduction of flood risks, such as water diversions, shoreline protection, marsh creation, vegetative planting and barrier island rebuilding.

However, Louisiana doesn’t have all the money needed to cover the $50 billion budget estimate needed to finance the master plan. State surpluses, federal hurricane recovery dollars and other revenue sources provide short infusions of cash for the work overseen by the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.

But the oil spill money remains the most sizable, dedicated financing stream for the projects—at least until the looming expiration date. 

As Louisiana policymakers plan for the future, PAR writes, they must recognize the 2032 fiscal cliff facing the state’s vital coastal preservation work and start deciding how they’ll fill the gap. Targeted dedications of surplus dollars and other short-term cash into Louisiana’s coastal trust fund could be a start, but that clearly won’t be enough. Read the full commentary.