Officials overseeing the restoration of the Gulf of Mexico following the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill have endorsed 44 coastal projects totaling $627 million. Almost half the funds would go toward rebuilding barrier islands and shorelines in Louisiana. The projects will be financed largely by a $1-billion fund that BP set up.

Officials from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and federal agencies serving as public trustees in the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process on June 26 approved the programmatic environmental impact statement for the third and final phase of the "early restoration" projects. But trustees from natural-resource state agencies did not sign the statement.

Tom Harvey, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. spokesman, says that state residents want more Texas projects to be included on the list. But Nanciann Regalado, an Interior Dept. spokeswoman, says, "The participating trustees still intend and expect that the plan will be supported by all NRDA trustees."