Marking the one-year anniversary of the Gulf oil spill on Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio called for the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship to meet in Pensacola to focus on the regions recovery.
Last years tragedy was an extraordinary disaster that continues to hurt the Gulf Coast economy and livelihoods of its residents, the Florida Republican said. Over the past year, some Floridians have been able to bounce back, but many business owners and employees throughout the region have struggled to regain their footing, particularly in the tourism and fishing industries. Many small businesses have had to lay off workers, while others have sadly had to close their operations entirely. To add insult to injury, far too many of these entrepreneurial, hard-working Floridians are still waiting for the financial restitution promised to them. They deserve better.
"The Gulf Coast will recover from last year's disaster, but it will require our continued involvement. I will continue working with my Senate colleagues, particularly those representing the Gulf Coast states, on legislative solutions to address the challenges residents are still facing today, added Rubio.
"I also believe there is no substitute for seeing the impact firsthand and hearing directly from the residents whose lives have been changed by the spill. To that end, I have asked the Senates Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee to hold a field hearing in Pensacola as soon as possible to assess the efforts of the short-term recovery effort, evaluate what is needed for the Gulfs long-term recovery and identify areas where we can best assist those worst impacted by the largest environmental disaster in the history of this country.
Rubio sent a letter Wednesday to U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., the chairwoman of the committee and to ranking Republican U.S. Sen. Olympia Snow of Maine, asking for a meeting to be held as soon as is practicable in Pensacola to evaluate both the economic and ecological recovery status of the Gulf of Mexico a year after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The Florida Republican pointed to the damage to the regions seafood, tourism and small-business industries, arguing that some of them lost up to 20 percent of their business due to the accident.
Economic recovery is vital for each state off the Gulf of Mexico and is closely tied to ecological recovery, Rubio maintained. Unfortunately, the ecological impacts of the oil spill are still being studied and analyzed. We still do not know the effect of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and it is my hope that, with this hearing, we can identify best practices thus far and find a productive path forward to address both the short- and long-term impacts of this disaster.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
