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BOEMRE Awards $1.1 Million for Mississippi Harbor
Funds Pre-construction Planning of Long Beach Harbor Expansion Project
NEW ORLEANS – The Bureau
of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE)
announced today that it has awarded a $1,145,000 Coastal
Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) grant to the state of
Mississippi. The grant will provide funding for the Phase 1
planning, pre-construction expenditures and administrative
tasks to support the reconstruction and expansion of Long
Beach Harbor, located in Harrison County, Mississippi.
Created by the
Energy Policy Act of 2005, CIAP provides funding to the six
Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas producing states to
conserve and protect the coastal environment. CIAP is an ongoing
program with grant funding that is allocated based on the
offshore energy revenues collected by the United States.
“CIAP is a
cooperative program that provides meaningful financial support
to states and their coastal areas,” said BOEMRE Director Michael
R. Bromwich. “These grants enable us to partner with Mississippi
and its coastal communities to fund vital construction and
environmental protection initiatives such as this one, which
will help restore and preserve our fragile coastal environment
for generations to come.”
The grant will be used to fund
the Phase 1 pre-construction portion of a future expansion and
reconstruction project at Long Beach Harbor. This preliminary
support phase will include the selection of an
architectural/engineering firm for the development of a master
expansion plan, the acquisition of permits and environmental
surveys, engineering reviews and plans for selected small
construction projects at the existing harbor, and a Best
Management Practices analysis.
This project will result in the
creation of an environmentally-friendly “clean and green”
harbor, which will preserve sensitive ecosystems and protect the
coastal areas of the city of Long Beach.
CIAP received $250 million in
appropriated funds for each of the fiscal years 2007-2010, to be
disbursed to six eligible OCS oil and gas producing states:
Mississippi, Alabama, Alaska, California, Louisiana and Texas. Contact:
BOEMRE Public
Affairs-Gulf
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