Next week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will consider a series of regional watershed restoration bills. These bills will create or bolster EPA and other agencies' offices to implement restoration projects and guide smart land use decisions.

The Great Waters Coalition is calling upon the conservation community to weigh in with Senate EPW Committee Members and urge them to pass the following bills as part of a Great Waters Omnibus.

Breaking News: BP reportedly agrees to put $20 billion in an escrow account to cover oil spill claims.

Last night President Obama addressed the nation in his first ever Oval Office address. The speech followed the President's two-day trip to the Gulf region on Monday and Tuesday to inspect conditions on the ground and talk with people living in communities being adversely affected by the spill. In his address, Obama vowed to use any and all resources available to fight the oil spill in the Gulf. He predicted that "in the coming days and weeks," the attempts to stop or contain the leak "should capture up to 90 percent of the oil leaking out of the well."

President Obama continues his two day trip today to the Gulf region. He will be visiting coastal communities in Florida's panhandle today and is scheduled to return to Washington, DC this evening where he will deliver his first ever Oval Office address. This is Obama's fourth trip to the battered Gulf region since the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico started almost two months ago.

Researchers have doubled their estimates of how much oil has actually been flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from the ruptured oil well that has been spewing oil since April 20th. They now believe that as much as 40,000 barrels (1.7 million gallons) a day may have been escaping for weeks. According to US Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt, "the lowest estimates that we're seeing, that the scientists think is credible, is probably about 20,000 barrels.