BOEMRE Awards $432,000 for Louisiana Restoration Projects
CIAP Grants to Fund Beau Bayou Restoration Planning, Cameron
Parish Bridge Project
NEW ORLEANS – The Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) today
announced it has awarded two Coastal Impact Assistance Program
(CIAP) grants totaling $432,750 to St. Martin Parish and Cameron
Parish, Louisiana. The grants will fund Phase I of the Beau Bayou
Swamp Hydrologic Restoration Project in St. Martin Parish, and will
reimburse Cameron Parish for costs associated with the 2010 West Big
Burn Bridge Restoration Project.
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.
“We are proud to support vital
natural habitat preservation and infrastructure restoration
initiatives to Louisiana’s coastal parishes,” said BOEMRE Director
Michael R. Bromwich. “CIAP grants help make possible the important
ongoing work of protecting and restoring our coastal ecosystems for
many years to come.”
The first grant will provide $340,960
to St. Martin Parish, to be used for Phase I of the Beau Bayou Swamp
Hydrologic Restoration Project. This administrative planning phase
is scheduled for the first two years of a planned four-year project.
Phase I will include permitting, design surveys, geotechnical
investigation, a project alternatives report, and the final plans
and specifications for the proposal. The Beau Bayou Swamp initiative
is expected to restore fisheries habitats and help restore and
preserve the overall ecology of the area. The project is located in
the west central region of the Atchafalaya Basin in St. Martin
Parish, approximately 15 miles northeast of New Iberia, Louisiana.
The second grant will reimburse
$91,790 to Cameron Parish for the additional project and
construction expenses incurred during the West Big Burn Bridge
Restoration initiative, completed in July of 2010. The award will
fully fund all the parish’s costs associated with this endeavor.
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