BOEMRE Awards More Than $480,000 for Louisiana Restoration Projects
NEW ORLEANS – The Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) announced today that
it has awarded two Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) grants
totaling $481,978 to the state of Louisiana and Vermilion Parish,
La. The grants will fund beach and dune restoration planning along
the West Caminada Headland in Lafourche Parish, La., and a shoreline
protection and marsh creation plan at Tiger Point in Vermilion
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 is committed
to continuing our support of Louisiana’s vital coastal restoration
and preservation efforts,” said BOEMRE
Director Michael R. Bromwich. “CIAP grants allow us to partner with
Louisiana and its coastal parishes to fund critical marsh
restoration and shoreline conservation initiatives such as these two
projects. Along with the many other such projects, they will help
preserve our environment and valuable coastline areas.”
A grant to Louisiana’s Department of
Natural Resources will help fund a beach/dune restoration, marsh
creation, and habitat protection initiative along the West Caminada
Headland, a formation in Lafourche Parish near the entrance to Port
Fourchon. This $295,523 grant will support costs associated with the
initial planning, oversight, coordination and management by state
Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration employees during Phase
I of the project.
A grant to Vermilion Parish, for
$186,455, will be used to support the engineering and design of a
shoreline protection project at Tiger Point. The initiative is
expected to create marsh and reduce shoreline erosion rates in areas
that have been impacted by the oil and gas industry. The project
includes the design of a breakwater device to reduce the impact of
waves in the Tiger Point area, which is located in coastal Vermilion
Parish along the Gulf of Mexico shoreline.
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