Including local communities in coastal restoration

Watch my comments on the draft early coastal restoration plan, delivered at a public meeting in Belle Chasse, La. on February 2, 2012 .

The plans outline how to spend $1 billion that BP committed towards early coastal restoration through the Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA), a process they must go through to determine their liability based on damages to the ecosystem after the oil disaster of 2010. The NRDA process may take years, but $1 billion was set aside to fund these early restoration projects.

Tracy Kuhns is founder and executive director of Louisiana Bayoukeeper in Barataria, Louisiana, founder of the Fishing Community Family Support Center, and president of the GO FISH coalition. A shrimper, mother of 5 and grandmother of 17, Tracy is dedicated to protecting and preserving the natural resources, traditional coastal fishing life and communities of coastal Louisiana.