By: Veronica Zaragovia, KUT NEWS
Today when a Texas House panel hosted a hearing to get an update on money from BP after the Deep Water Horizon explosion, lawmakers learned about money BP gave to the Governor’s office, without looping the Legislature in. KUT’s Veronica Zaragovia reports.
Governor Rick Perry’s office allocated 1 million dollars to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality last year for work, including a Gulf Coast restoration council. State Representative Trey Martinez Fisher, the San Antonio Democrat, asked where that money came from.
TCEQ Commissioner Toby Baker.
TOBY BAKER: It was a gift given to the state of Texas by BP to the Governor’s Office after the spill.
Baker and lawmakers discussed whether it was a gift or a legal agreement between BP and the state. All together, BP gave 5 million dollars to Perry’s office in September 2010. The Attorney General’s office, the state comptroller’s office and the Governor’s office were all involved in the conversation with BP, But Martinez Fisher says lawmakers should have been in on it.
TREY MARTINEZ FISHER: I’m very troubled knowing that a $5 million deal occurred in the state of Texas and no one had the common courtesy to let the Legislature know what was going on.
Meanwhile, Congress and the federal government are still determining allocations to the Gulf Coast states to reimburse for expenses caused by the oil spill.
Veronica Zaragovia KUT News.
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