BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed one of the last outstanding bills from the legislative session, steering $700 million in oil spill recovery money to road, bridge and port projects.
The Democratic governor touted the plans at a signing event Friday in West Baton Rouge Parish, near the site of one project in the bill, a planned highway connector to alleviate traffic snarls.
Louisiana is receiving yearly payments of $53.3 million through 2034 from BP as compensation for economic damage from the massive 2010 Gulf oil spill. The payments are separate from recovery money slated for coastal restoration.
Lawmakers previously had earmarked the money for trust funds. Instead, the dollars will pay for 10 infrastructure projects, under the bill by Houma Republican Rep. Tanner Magee.
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House Bill 578: www.legis.la.gov
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