RESTORE committee sets criteria for projects


  • February 19, 2015
  • /   William Rabb
  • /   economy
A citizens committee Wednesday night took another step forward in the two-year process that will decide how millions of dollars in oil spill restoration money will be spent in Escambia County. After hearing from people in the room, the RESTORE Advisory Committee also added language to emphasize projects that would protect buffer zones around waterways and would encourage applicants to collaborate on projects before submitting them. [sidebar] The criteria approved Wednesday by the RESTORE Committee include five broad categories: — Environment. — Infrastructure. — Economic. — Baseline (regulatory). — Neighborhood, cultural, education and other needs that don't fit the other categories. [/sidebar] The committee was appointed by the Escambia County Commissioners in 2012 to devise a fair method of distributing as much as $200 million to be paid by BP, the company held most responsible for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The final criteria are approved, which means projects can be submitted later this spring. Committee members did not develop a point system for each criteria, which will help determine which projects ultimately get funded. That issue could be decided at the March 2 meeting. The member representing environmental interests, Christian Wagley, urged his colleagues to adopt a point system that would reflect a recent survey of 233 county residents, which heavily favored water-quality improvements and habitat restoration, ahead of flood-control solutions. Chairwoman Bentina Terry argued that the committee itself would be a better judge of how much weight to give each community need. She said that the survey sample was small, and committee members and their consultants had researched the issues for months. “The people who answered those surveys may not know everything we know,” Terry said. One citizen in the audience urged the committee to not lose sight of the fact that it was a dependence on oil that led to drilling in the Gulf and to the BP oil disaster. “To me, the overarching criteria should be: Don't do projects that promote fossil fuels, because fossil-fuel problems are the reason for RESTORE,” said Beverly Perry, who described herself simply as a “grandma.” Environmental scientist Bill Young asked committee members to include more specific language in the criteria that would give points to projects that protect natural buffer zones around creeks, streams and other waterways. Those natural zones absorb runoff, which helps protect habitat and control flooding downstream, he said. The committee agreed. Members also agreed to encourage applicants to attempt to partner before submitting project ideas. Some individual projects may score well in only one category, but when paired with another idea, may score higher across several criteria, said at-large committee member Al Coby. The group plans to create a website that lists ideas and contact information as it is submitted, so the public can share information. Once the criteria are weighted, the plan will be submitted to Escambia County Commissioners, which could make changes. Then, probably by May, interested parties may begin submitting detailed project ideas, said consultant Mike Hanson. The RESTORE Committee will rank projects based on the criteria-point system, and may recommend top-scoring ideas to the county commission, which will decide which projects will get funded.  
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