Navy Secretary visits TAMUG for Aug. 6 public meeting on economic and environmental ideas     

August 6, 2010

U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus conducted a town hall meeting at Texas A&M University at Galveston on Aug. 6 to discuss long-term economic and environmental restoration ideas with area residents.

The public meeting in the new Ocean and Coastal Studies Building on TAMUG's Mitchell Campus on Pelican Island attracted an audience of more than 150 persons.

For two hours, Mabus addressed expressed concerns and answered questions posed by audience members.

The Galveston event was one in a continuing series of town hall meetings Mabus is holding in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

President Obama has charged Mabus with the task of developing a long-term Gulf Coast Restoration Plan.  

Mabus has indicated that the plan will consider economic development, community planning, restoration of the ecosystem and environment, public health efforts and assistance to individuals and businesses impacted by the spill in the Gulf. Several times during the program, he stated that all restoration efforts will continue, in full force, even after the national spotlight moves away from the BP oil spill and the Gulf of Mexico.

The event at TAMUG was Secretary Mabus' fourth trip the Gulf Coast to listen to stakeholders and assess the impacts the oil spill is having on the region.

On previous trips he has visited with residents, business owners, and local, state, and federal officials in Baton Rouge, La.; New Orleans, La; Biloxi-Gulfport, Miss.; Jackson, Miss; Mobile, Ala.; Pensacola, Fla.; Bayou La. Batre, Ala.; Orange Beach, Ala.; and Gulf Shores, Ala.