Underwater seagrass beds are a vital habitat for juvenile fish, shrimp and crabs in Alabama's coastal waters. (Courtesy Dauphin Island Sea Lab)
Dennis Pillion | dpillion@al.com
on August 13, 2015 at 11:44 AM
The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council released a draft Funded Priorities List (FPL) Thursday for public comment. This FPL details active restoration projects total $139.6 million, and recommends setting aside approximately $43.6 million for future projects.
According to a summary posted by the Council, the proposed projects on the list would "provide substantial near-term ecological benefits and would help set the stage for future success with large-scale, comprehensive Gulf restoration."
The FPL included eight projects in Alabama, totaling more than $12.6 million in up front or "Category 1" funding and $13.5 million in "Category 2" funding in the future. The fact sheets for those projects are linked below:
Coastal Alabama Comprehensive Watershed Restoration Planning Project
Alabama Living Shorelines Program
Comprehensive Living Shoreline Monitoring
Alabama Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Restoration & Monitoring Program
Marsh Restoration in Fish River, Weeks Bay, Oyster Bay & Meadows Tract
Mobile Bay National Estuary Program
Upper Mobile Bay Beneficial Use Wetland Creation Site
Enhancing Opportunities for Beneficial Use of Dredged Sediments
In addition to the Alabama projects, the FPL includes projects to fill in abandoned oil and gas canals and wells, work with land owners to prevent approximately 16,000 pounds of fertilizers per year from entering the Gulf, preserve 9,400 acres of "high value coastal habitat," and invest in Gulf-wide science, coordination and planning programs.
A group of local and national conservation organizations including National Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation, Environmental Defense Fund and the Nature Conservancy released a joint statement:
"While we haven't yet engaged on the details of the list, we are encouraged to see this first Funded Priorities List moving forward into the public comment period, and we congratulate the RESTORE Council and staff for their efforts to reach this point. The RESTORE Act is focused on comprehensive restoration for the Gulf of Mexico, and our organizations are eager to see strong projects progress to actual construction and implementation.
"With a final BP settlement on the horizon, the RESTORE Council and the Gulf states have a tremendous opportunity ahead to plan for and achieve meaningful restoration and lasting resilience for the essential ecosystems of the Gulf. Our organizations look forward to reviewing and providing comments on this first project list over the coming weeks and working with the Council on the next, more comprehensive FPL process."
Bethany Carl Kraft, director of Ocean Conservancy's Gulf Restoration Program said that the FPL marked an important step in the process of choosing which projects to fund through the RESTORE Act.
"While we are still reviewing the details of the draft list, we are encouraged by the approach they seem to be taking, including foundational investments in science and a commitment to funding projects that will begin to address the stressors that prevent our environment from functioning at its full potential," Kraft said in a news release. "The Council appears to have put politics aside, choosing to focus on prioritizing projects by watershed rather than by political boundary, but have unfortunately left out any consideration of the offshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
"The success of coastal restoration is intrinsically linked to a healthy marine ecosystem. We encourage the Council to extend their comprehensive approach beyond the salt line."
As established by the RESTORE Act, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council will handle one portion of the Clean Water Act fine money paid by BP and other companies responsible for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In Alabama, it is often referred to as the federal council to differentiate it from the state RESTORE council, which will administer Alabama's portion of the Clean Water Act fine money.
Government officials recently announced a settlement agreement with BP that set the final Clean Water Act fine amount at $5.5 billion, to be paid out in increments over 18 years. If that settlement is finalized as is, the federal council would receive approximately $1.32 billion in total to be put toward comprehensive ecosystem restoration projects, as laid out in the legislation.
Public comments on this draft FPL can be lodged online, or by mailing or emailing the Restoration Council. The deadline for making comments is Sept. 28. There will also be a series of public meetings to discuss the FPL across the Gulf Coast, including one at Mobile's Battle House Renaissance hotel on Sept. 1 at 6 p.m.