$27 million in Gulf restoration projects approved for the MS Coast. Here’s the list.
Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday announced the approval of six restoration projects and two amended projects totaling $26.8 million to restore and improve natural resources affected by the BP oil spill.
All of the projects are on the Mississippi Coast.
The announcement came after the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Gulf Environmental Fund approved the proposed projects that the state Department of Environmental Quality will manage.
The projects are among those paid for with funding the state received to improve South Mississippi’s infrastructure and natural resources after the 2010 oil spill.
“These projects will be critical in my administration’s coastal restoration and preservation efforts,” Reeves said in a press release Thursday. “One of my top priorities will always be to restore our coast to what it was before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, so future generations of Mississippians can enjoy all the benefits it has to offer.”
“The health of our natural resources is intertwined with the strength of the economy of South Mississippi,” Chris Wells, MDEQ’s executive director, said. “These projects, in addition to the other announced this year, will continue the essential work necessary to enhance the coastal habitats so vital to marine life.”
Here’s the list of the projects:
- West Hancock County Nearshore Habitat Restoration: $14 million in funding for the engineering, design, and permitting for habitat restoration to increase coastal marine life, such as crabs and fish.
- Point Cadet Nearshore Habitat Restoration: $400,000 earmarked to develop coastal shorelines protection and create marshes to increase marine life productivity.
- Bellefontaine Nearshore Habitat Protection: $1 million earmarked for the design, engineering and permitting for work to protect the shoreline of Davis Bayou and Marsh Point through the developments of shoreline structures.
- Offshore Artificial Reef and Habitat Enhancement: $3.12 million earmarked artificial reef and habit enhancements on Coastal Mississippi’s barrier islands to enhance fisheries production.
- Artificial Reef and Habitat Enhancement: $8.5 million for the engineering and construction of shoreline protection from Deer Island to Katrina Key.
- Inshore Artificial Reef Assessment and Petit Bois planning: $662,000 in funding to the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources to plan, restore and enhance marine life productivity in the agency’s coastal artificial reef program.
The amendements to the current projects include:
- $11 million for using dredged material for marsh restoration in Coastal Mississippi and the continued use of material from existing dredging efforts to restore and create additional marsh habitat to enhance bays and estuaries.
- Mississippi Coastal Restoration Plan: $720,000 added for funding for the continued assessment of current ecological conditions and restoration efforts to create and evaluate the existing management plans to help identify areas to focus on for other restoration projects.
NFWF’s Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund was established in 2013 due to plea agreements reached in criminal cases related to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
As a result of the agreements, the NFWF received $2.54 billion in compensation to pay for projects to benefit and restore natural resources on the Coast directly affected by the oil spill.
