November 1, 2010

Dear Mr. Feinberg,

We write today to emphasize the importance of restoration as an appropriate and necessary goal of the Deepwater Horizon compensation fund, and to note the centrality of the concept of ecosystem services to the proper assessment of compensation for environmental harms and strategies for achieving ecosystem restoration. To the extent that the existing Trust authority is not sufficient to take account of these concepts, we encourage you to seek broader authority.

Restoration as Part of Compensation

President Barack Obama has repeatedly emphasized the importance of looking not just to the past with respect to the Gulf, but to the future as well. In his June 12 Oval Office address, President Obama said: "Beyond compensating the people of the Gulf in the short term, it's also clear we need a long-term plan to restore the unique beauty and bounty of this region." In late August, BP CEO Bob Dudley, speaking to the Southern Governors' Association, said that BP will "make this right" and restore the region. The BP website reaffirms this commitment, stating that "[a]t BP, we have taken responsibility for the cleanup in the Gulf," and "[w]e have committed to do everything we can to make things right in the Gulf region, working as long as it takes, on the ocean, on the shore and in the community."