House lawmakers are slowly moving forward with legislation that would send 80 percent of the Deepwater Horizon spill fines to the five Gulf Coast states for environmental and economic restoration efforts, even as lawmakers continue to wrangle over how to offset its $1.2 billion price tag.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday will hold a hearing on the bill (H.R. 3096), which Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) introduced in October after the Senate version passed committee (E&ENews PM, Oct. 5).

Provisions of the legislation, known as the "RESTORE Act," have been the subject of intense, behind-the-scenes haggling among Gulf state members as the group hammered out a complex formula that would be used to divide up the money anticipated to result from the U.S. litigation of companies responsible for the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

Now that they have settled on language acceptable to senators of all five states -- with the notable exception of Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) (E&E Daily, Sept. 23) -- the Gulf Coast lawmakers face the next big hurdle: pleasing deficit hawks by coming up with a suitable offset for the $1.2 billion the Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would cost.

Senators are said to be discussing possible extensions of per-barrel taxes on oil drilling that are set to expire, according to an environmental source who asked to remain anonymous so as not to be kept out of the loop as talks proceed.

Total fines from the Deepwater Horizon disaster could range from $5.4 billion to $21.1 billion, with a final dollar amount expected to shake out in negotiations between the Justice Department and the companies deemed responsible.

The legislation would divide 80 percent of the Clean Water Act penalties paid by the companies among the five Gulf states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida to pay for economic and environmental restoration. If unchanged, current law would direct 100 percent of the fines to the Treasury.

That 80 percent would be further subdivided: 35 percent of it would be divided equally among the states to pay for economic and environmental restoration projects, as defined in the bill; 30 percent would be used to develop and implement a comprehensive restoration plan, created by a federal-state Gulf Coast Restoration Council that includes representatives from all five states; and 30 percent would be disbursed according to an impact-driven formula.

The remaining 5 percent would fund a long-term science and fisheries endowment and create Gulf Coast Centers of Excellence to advance research, science and technology around Gulf Coast issues -- a provision that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said was essential to winning his support for the bill but that has Republicans grumbling.

Gulf advocates say the money captured by the House and Senate bills could fund key elements of the sweeping Gulf Coast ecosystem restoration strategy unveiled in October by the state-federal task force President Obama created last year to draw up a response to the spill (Greenwire, Oct. 5).

Scalise said the bill was the product of months of negotiations among Gulf Coast lawmakers in the House, who formed a Gulf Coast Caucus in June for the purpose of pressing this issue in the chamber.

"This is an important first step that we're taking in the House to put in place a fair process that allows us to restore the Gulf Coast region that was directly impacted by the disaster," Scalise said in a statement. "It is only proper that the Gulf Coast, which dealt directly with the effects of the Deepwater Horizon disaster for months, should receive the lion's share of the fines the responsible parties will have to pay as a result."

Schedule: The hearing is Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 11 a.m. in 2167 Rayburn.

Witnesses: TBA.