The US Treasury Department announced yesterday that Gulf Coast state and local governments can finally submit proposals and apply for RESTORE Act funds. This opens up grants to support communities impacted by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Some of the $653 million in civil penalties that came out of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are now available. 35 percent of that money will be divided equally among the five states of Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. 20 coastal parishes in Louisiana qualify for the funds.
"We’ve been waiting to be able to apply for this funding for over two years, and we’ll probably be waiting another year for substantial amount of money to be excited about being able to spend some oil spill funding," says Nick Matherne, the director of Coastal Restoration and Preservation for Terrebonne Parish.
Under the RESTORE Act formula, Terrebonne Parish is receiving 9.9 percent of the funds, based on the amount of damage caused by the oil spill. This comes out to roughly $1.3 million.
Matherne says this is exciting, but doesn’t change all that much, yet. "We do have a couple smaller projects in mind, nothing earth shattering, but some projects that we feel may be beneficial to the area, just freshwater enhancement projects here and there," he says.
Matherne is really waiting on the $8-35 million he’s expecting from the BP settlement to get going on Terrebonne Parish’s biggest priority, putting a lock on the Houma Naviagtion Canal. But for now, his department will look into these smaller projects until the larger dollars roll in.
Support for WWNO's Coastal Desk comes from the Walton Family Foundation, the Greater New Orleans Foundation, and the Kabacoff Family Foundation.
