If all 44 projects are approved, about $300 million would remain in the fund set up as a down payment to help the Gulf.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Restoring the oil-stained Gulf of Mexico coastline is critical to the Obama administration's fight against climate change, U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Friday.
Jewell was at a national park outside New Orleans to announce the latest round of projects to help the Gulf Coast recover from the 2010 BP oil spill. Money for 44 projects is coming from a $1 billion fund BP created after oil fouled 1,110 miles of beaches and marsh along Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
"The Gulf of Mexico watershed is a large and diverse landscape that is critical to our nation's culture, economy and environment," Jewell said in prepared remarks. "Today's announcement is an important step as we work to not only restore the natural resources that were impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, but to also build back the resiliency of the region."
Photo by Robin May
If all 44 projects are approved (see list below), about $300 million would remain in the fund set up as a down payment to help the Gulf.
Of the new projects, 16 have been added in Florida since a preliminary announcement last spring, giving Florida more than $105 million from the fund. Most of the new Florida projects appear, from a list provided by the Interior Department, to be piers, boat ramps, boardwalks and other recreational facilities.
Money from the BP fund can be used to restore the economies of affected areas, by tourism or other means. Louisiana, which had the widest expanse of oiled coast, is the only state that does not have tourism or recreation projects in the latest batch of projects. Its $340 million includes $318.4 million to restore four barrier islands and $22 million for fish hatcheries.
In the spring, the states and BP described about $590 million of the proposals, including $85 million for a lodge and other improvements at Gulf Shores Park in Alabama.
Meetings will be held across the coast to get public comment on the 44 proposals.
Jewell took an aerial tour of the Gulf on Thursday and visited the Breton and Big Branch national wildlife refuges. Big Branch is on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain and was not affected by the spill. Booms quickly set around the islands at Breton, which encompasses areas at the mouth of the Mississippi River and a chain of barrier islands in Chandeleur Sound, protected it from the worst of the spill, Jewell said.
"When Hurricane Katrina came along, it wiped out about 70 percent of the whole refuge, and yet it's critical habitat" for birds such as brown pelicans, terns and skimmers, Jewell said. "Close to 30 percent of all the brown pelican habitat in the northern Gulf is in this very small island" called North Breton Island, she said.
About $72 million of the BP money would go for restoration there, she said.
Although it's too far from shore to protect the coast from rising tides, the dune restoration there is typical of work that can do so, Jewell said.
Restoration projects proposed using BP funding
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Titles and estimated cost of 44 projects proposed for funding from BP PLC's $1 billion set-aside dedicated to recovery from its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The 16 Florida projects marked with an asterisk have been added since a preliminary announcement last spring.
LOUISIANA
$318.4 million - Louisiana Outer Coast Restoration
$22 million - Louisiana Marine Fisheries Enhancement, Research, and Science Center
LOUISIANA TOTAL: $340.4 million
ALABAMA
$85.5 million - Gulf State Park Enhancement Project
$5 million - Alabama Swift Tract Living Shoreline
$3.2 million - Alabama Oyster Cultch Restoration
ALABAMA TOTAL: $93.7 MILLION
FLORIDA
$10.8 million - Beach Enhancement Project at Gulf Island National Seashore
$4 million - Gulf Islands National Seashore Ferry Project
$775,605 - Florida Cat Point Living Shoreline Project
$10.8 million - Florida Pensacola Bay Living Shoreline Project
$2.7 million - Florida Seagrass Recovery Project
$588,500 - Perdido Key State Park Beach Boardwalk Improvements
$1.5 million - Big Lagoon State Park Boat Ramp Improvement
$1 million - Bob Sikes Pier Parking and Trail Restoration
$11.5 million - Florida Artificial Reefs
$18.8 million - Florida Fish Hatchery
$2.9 million - Scallop Enhancement for Increased Recreational Fishing Opportunity in the Florida Panhandle
$882,750 - Shell Point Beach Nourishment
$611,234 - Perdido Key Dune Restoration Project
$5.4 million - Florida Oyster Cultch Placement Project
$3.2 million - (asterisk)Strategically Provided Boat Access Along Florida's Gulf Coast
$743,276 - (asterisk)Walton County Boardwalks and Dune Crossovers
$2.1 million - (asterisk)Gulf County Recreation Projects
$470,800 - (asterisk)Bald Point State Park Recreation Areas
$1.8 million - (asterisk)Enhancements of Franklin County Parks and Boat Ramps
$262,989 - (asterisk)Appalachicola River Wildlife and Environmental Area Fishing and Wildlife Viewing Access Improvements
$1.2 million - (asterisk)Navarre Beach Park Gulfside Walkover Complex
$614,630 - (asterisk)Navarre Beach Park Coastal Access
$309,669 - (asterisk)Gulf Breeze Wayside Park Boat Ramp
$2.6 million - (asterisk)Developing Enhanced Recreational Opportunities at the Escribano Point Portion of the Yellow River WMA
$10.2 million - (asterisk)Norriego Point Restoration and Recreation Project
$588,500 - (asterisk)Deer Lake State Park Development
$993,649 - (asterisk)City of Parker, Oak Shore Drive Pier
$2 million - (asterisk)Panama City Marina Fishing Pier, Boat Ramp and Staging Docks
$1.5 million - (asterisk)Wakulla Marshes Sands Park Improvements
$4.6 million - (asterisk)Northwest Florida Estuarine Habitat Restoration, Protection and Education, Fort Walton Beach
FLORIDA TOTAL: $105.5 million
MISSISSIPPI
$50 million - Hancock County Marsh Living Shoreline Project
$10.4 million - Restoration Initiatives at the INFINITY Science Center
$4.7 million - Popp's Ferry Causeway Park
$3.8 million - Pascagoula Beach Front Promenade
MISSISSIPPI TOTAL: $68.9 million
TEXAS
$10.7 million - Galveston Island State Park Beach Development
$3.5 million - Matagorda Artificial Reef Project
$2.1 million - Freeport Artificial Reef Project
$1.8 million - Mid/Upper Texas Coast Artificial Reef Ship Reef Project1
$210,100 - Sea Rim State Park Improvements
TEXAS TOTAL: $18.4 million
GRAND TOTAL: $627 million
Note: Totals are not exact because of rounding.
Source: Department of the Interior