BOEMRE Awards $532,000 for Louisiana Projects
Two CIAP Grants to Provide Additional Funds for Road Initiative, Bridge Replacement
NEW ORLEANS – The Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE)
announced that it has awarded a total of $532,041 in Coastal Impact
Assistant Program (CIAP) grants to Iberia and Cameron Parishes in
the state of Louisiana. These grants will provide funding for the
construction of a replacement bridge on Port Road, a critical link
between access routes for the Port of Iberia; and for the remaining
funds allocated to a 2009 project to repair Trosclair Road, a
heavily-used industrial route in Cameron Parish.
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.
“BOEMRE continues to
support important infrastructure and road construction initiatives
that are critical to coastal industry, including
these two projects,” said BOEMRE Director Michael R. Bromwich.
“CIAP grants enable us to work with Louisiana communities to fund
vital projects that are crucial for future economic growth and the
preservation of our valuable coastal environment for many years to
come.”
The first grant will
provide $503,535 to Iberia Parish to design and build a replacement
bridge located on Port Road, which crosses the Rodere Lateral Canal.
Port Road is a vital link between South Lewis Street and Highway
329, two primary access routes to oil and port industry facilities
in the Port of Iberia corridor. The replacement bridge will also
lessen damage caused by heavy daily traffic of OCS-produced products
and large equipment. The project is located 2.5 miles south of New
Iberia, La.
The second grant will
provide $28,506 as an amendment to a
2009 CIAP grant to Cameron Parish, and provides the remaining monies
allocated to the initiative. The original award, which totaled
$1,611,086, funded a project between Cameron Parish and the state of
Louisiana to repair 7.43 miles of Trosclair Road, an important
access route to OCS activities in the parish. Construction began in
March 2009 to patch and overlay the roadway between Cameron and Oak
Grove, La., and was completed in June 2009. Trosclair Road supports
not only the oil and gas industry in Cameron Parish, but also the
commercial fishing industry and residential and interstate traffic.
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:
Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, California, Mississippi and Texas.
Contact: BOEMRE
Public Affairs-Gulf