The New RESTORE Act Regulations, Notice, and Guidelines from Treasury

When
August 28, 2014 11:00 am — 1:00 pm

Environmental Law Institute and the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law & Policy


Passed in 2012, the RESTORE Act directs 80% of civil and administrative Clean Water Act penalties levied in connection with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to restoration and recovery of the Gulf of Mexico region.  The monies collected are placed in a Restoration Trust Fund, and then channeled through five different “pots” of funding.  To date, $800 million has been obligated to the Restoration Trust Fund, from a civil settlement between the federal government and Transocean. It is anticipated that the RTF will receive another influx of monies once Clean Water Act penalties from BP are determined.   

The Treasury Department is tasked with administering the Restoration Trust Fund, and oversees the grants for two pots of funding.  Over the past several weeks, it has released several important rules and guidance documents relevant to the administration, distribution of funds, and proposal of projects and programs under the RESTORE Act. 

This webinar will feature a panel of experts to provide an overview of these complex and interrelated documents, with special focus on the Treasury Department’s interim final rule for administering the Restoration Trust Fund.  The goal is to review how the documents relate to each other, the key elements of Treasury’s oversight regulations and how they have evolved since they were first proposed last September, and key issues and opportunities. There will be approximately one hour of presentations followed by 30 minutes of Q&A with the webinar audience.

 

Panelists:

  • Mark Davis, Senior Research Fellow, Tulane University Law School
  • Sara Gonzalez-Rothi Kronenthal, Senior Policy Specialist, National Wildlife Federation
  • Jim McElfish, Senior Attorney, Environmental Law Institute
  • Jim Muller, Bay County RESTORE Act Coordinator
  • Chris Barnes and Cameron Long, Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority 


Additional Materials:


This event is made possible by support from the Walton Family Foundation and the Naomi & Nehemiah Cohen Foundation.