The Department of Agriculture will ask lawmakers to approve the use of the final $1.5 million from BP to continue a seafood testing program through October of next year.
The 2010 agreement – which expires in October of 2013 – provided a total of $10 million for the program to test seafood for ill effects of the 2010 BP oil spill. Just over $3.3 million has been spent, and another $5.1 million is budgeted for the current year.
State agencies had until Monday to submit proposed budgets for the coming year, and the Agriculture agency included the spending authority for the final installment of the BP money in its proposal. In particular, the agency's testing program checks seafood for hydrocarbons, dispersants and heavy metals, and anticipates taking 80 samples of shellfish and finfish per month.
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