Gulf Spill Money Reaches Escambia County, Waiting Game For Others

March 12, 2013

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection expects to have a list of desired restoration and conservation projects in place this summer for its share of the money from the BP oil spill disaster.

As part of a $1 billion agreement signed by the five state National Resource Damage Assessment Project Trustees and BP in April 2011, $100 million was designated to Florida.

So far, the state has been able to use $11.4 million for four boat ramps and a dune restoration project in Escambia County and a pair of coastal conservation projects — nesting bird and sea turtle habitat – along the Panhandle.

When the federal pipeline for additional money to reach the state and local governments will be turned on remains unknown.

The state must wait for the U.S. Treasury to establish a list of regulations on how the Restore Act and other money from BP and Transocean settlements are distributed, said Mimi Drew, special advisor to DEP Secretary Herschel Vinyard.

“We’re reading the law, but we don’t have the rules,” Drew said.

The money is separate from the more than $1.7 billion that the BP-backed claims paying agency has paid out since last summer, of which about $332 million has gone to individuals and businesses in Florida.

The state continues to see tar balls wash ashore on Panhandle beaches and recorded a drop in Gulf fishing. There also was a decline in beach tourism, with a drop in reservations from the April 2010 disaster.

State officials have been holding listening sessions along the Gulf Coast to get local input for conservation and restoration projects. Public meetings on the plan will be scheduled later this spring.

“Right now we’re just talking about the kind of projects we’ll be funding, but we hope to have a draft plan in about a month or two,” Drew said after appearing Monday before the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Through the Restore Act, the state expects Florida counties will receive $56 million, with the governor getting to direct a share of $240 million heading to the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council.

“We are concentrating on trying to restore what we call the loss of human use,” Drew said. “They have to have a direct connection to the spill. You have to prove that the project offsets the damage from the spill.”

By The News Service of Florida

Comments

3 Responses to “Gulf Spill Money Reaches Escambia County, Waiting Game For Others”

  1. Joe Montana on March 12th, 2013 2:47 pm

    the 4 rams are:
    1. Mahogany Mill on Bayou Chico, land purchased, being constructed.
    2. Galvez Landing on the ICW near Inerriarty Point. Brought up to dat and refurbished.
    3. A ramp up on Perdio River. Land purchased, being constructed I think
    4. Navy Point Ramp. Brought up to date and refurbished.

    All 4 ramps are free.

  2. dgm on March 12th, 2013 10:54 am

    Where are the 4 boat ramps? is it the ramps in pensacola that you have to pay to use now? And if you live in the county it will cost you more. Alabama just built a ramp on perdido bay that would put to shame anything pensacola has – probably with BP money, and its free for anyone to use.

  3. Jane on March 12th, 2013 7:47 am

    I hope this money will go to restore our beaches and the habitat and not for more building on the beach!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News