BOEMRE Awards $400,000 for Rabbit Island Restoration Project
CIAP Grant to Fund Louisiana Pelican Habitat and Marsh Restoration Initiative
NEW ORLEANS – The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation
and Enforcement (BOEMRE) today announced it has awarded a $401,851 Coastal Impact Assistance
Program (CIAP) grant to Calcasieu Parish in Louisiana. The grant will provide funding
for Phase I of a marsh and pelican nesting habitat restoration project on Rabbit Island
in Calcasieu Lake.
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 grants enable us to support vital coastal
wetland restoration efforts, and the Rabbit Island project in Louisiana is a
wonderful example. We need to work hard to preserve our fragile ecosystems;
partnering with states and their coastal communities to support habitat and
marsh protection is an important part of that effort," said BOEMRE Director
Michael R. Bromwich.
The grant will be used to fund the development portion
of the Rabbit Island restoration project. This first phase will provide funding
for planning, engineering and design, topographical studies, side scan sonar and
magnetometer surveys, field investigations, permitting and final plans and
specifications for the conservation initiative.
The next phase, expected to be developed in the
near future, will provide additional funds for the construction needed to
restore approximately 200 acres of pelican nesting habitat and marsh to
Rabbit Island. This will be accomplished through the addition of sediment
dredged from the nearby Calcasieu Ship Channel. In addition, 2,500 linear
feet of limestone will be added to the west corner of Rabbit Island for
shoreline protection.
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