Gov. Phil Bryant has appointed more than 100 people from Mississippi’s coastal counties to draft a plan on how to spend damage money the state will get from the BP oil spill.
The five states bordering the Gulf of Mexico will get 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the 2010 BP spill, although the money won’t be split evenly among them. The total haul is estimated at anywhere from $5 billion to $21 billion, depending on what parties settle to or a federal judge determines.
The group, called Go Coast 2020, is divided into eight focus areas. Its website says the group supposed to submit a report to Bryant by January.
Bryant, in a Biloxi news conference Wednesday, says he wants coastal leaders to set spending priorities.