SPANISH FORT, Alabama— At Friday’s meeting of the Alabama Gulf Coast Recovery Council, a number of leaders from area environmental groups asked that a citizens committee be appointed to ensure transparency and fairness in the selection of projects to be funded by RESTORE Act BP oil-spill fines.

Council members said they are looking into that option and will be trying to figure out the best way to go about doing that, as well as how to get public input from citizens in Mobile and Baldwin counties.

The AGCRC met at 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center on May 10 to discuss its strategic plan and the Center for Excellence designation under the RESTORE Act.

The 10-member committee is comprised of state and local political leaders who will be in charge of distributing the fine money paid to Alabama by BP as a result of the 2010 oil spill.

The council made a presentation to the public regarding its strategic map, indicating the council’s purpose. That map describes the internal process the council will develop to select and evaluate projects, engage citizens and make sure the process will be transparent and fair.

“At this point we shouldn’t even be talking about projects,” said Council Vice-Chair Jimmy Lyons, director of the Alabama State Port Authority. “We should be focused on making the process as fair and transparent as possible.”

The council also named Dauphin Island Sea Lab as its Center for Excellence, which will offer research grants from 2.5 percent of the RESTORE Act trust fund.  

That center will focus on science, technology and monitoring in “at least one of the following disciplines: coastal and deltaic sustainability, restoration and protection, including solutions and technology that allow citizens to live in a safe and sustainable manner in a coastal delta in the Gulf Coast Region,” the RESTORE Act states.

The council is comprised of the following members:  Recovery Council Chairman and Gov. Robert Bentley, Lyons, Baldwin County Commissioner Tucker Dorsey, Mobile County Commissioner Merceria Ludgood, Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier, Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft, Mobile Mayor Sam Jones, Fairhope Mayor Tim Kant, Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon and the mayor of Bayou La Batre.