Gulf Restoration Projects Funded, Including $11 Million To Escambia County

November 18, 2014

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which is managing funds from settlements involving the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, announced Monday that nine environmental restoration projects in Florida will collectively receive $34.3 million. The largest award, $11 million, will go to the restoration of the Bayou Chico Watershed in southern Escambia County, which is a 10.36-square-mile drainage area that empties into Pensacola Bay.

The awards also will provide $3 million to remove invasive species and increase freshwater flows from priority coastal dune lakes across the Panhandle. Another $4.22 million will go to the Boggy Bayou area of northwestern Choctawhatchee Bay. The money comes from a pair of 2013 settlements totaling $2.544 billion with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve certain criminal charges against Transocean and BP as a result of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill.

Both settlements are being administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The Transocean funds will be paid over a two-year period. BP is to pay the money over a five-year period. Funds from both settlements will be used for natural-resource restoration projects in the five gulf states, including Florida. Louisiana will get half, with Florida and the other three states splitting the rest.

by The News Service of Florida

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News