Studer Community Institute

"BP oil spill money" pots at a glance

July 2, 2015
/ Shannon Nickinson
/ community-dashboard

There is more to “BP oil spill money” than meets the eye. Thursday’s announcement that BP will settle claims related to the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster came with a historic price tag. The oil giant will pay $18.7 billion in fines, including $5.5 billion under the Clean Water Act. Bloomberg News reported that the settlement comes on top of at least $28 billion BP has already spent on response, cleanup and compensation. It also exceeds by almost $3 billion the $43.8 billion the company set aside for fallout from the spill. But since the spill there have been various pots of “BP money” that have begun to flow to the area. RESTORE Act funds: RESTORE Act funds will come through the federal government from fines levied under the Clean Water Act. That total is $5.5 billion. Florida’s share of that is $3.25 billion. Escambia County’s share of that pot is estimated at $58 million. The web portal is now open for projects that seek RESTORE funds. Click here to access it. It will be open until Sept. 30. Oil Spill Economic Recovery Act Money: Some of the fine money announced today will be distributed to the state of Florida to be doled out under this law, crafted by State Sen. Don Gaetz. Triumph Gulf Coast Inc., a nonprofit corporation created by the Legislature in 2013, will manage 75 percent of the economic damages money. Triumph, set up to help the eight Panhandle counties most economically impacted by the spill, is expected to award the money over 30 years for recovery efforts. The legislature will distribute the remaining 25 percent. Natural Resource Damage Assessment funds: Our area has seen three rounds of funding announced under this program. NRDA money address the damage to natural resources from the spill and the cost to restore them to pre-spill condition. NRDA-funded projects in the area have included $18 million for the Florida Gulf Coast Marine Fisheries Hatchery/Enhancement Center Project at Bruce Beach; boat ramp projects and dune restoration projects in Navarre and Perdido Key, $2.5 million for Escirbano Point and the Yellow River, and others. — The first phase of NRDA projects funded in Escambia County were dune restoration on Pensacola Beach and the construction or repair of four public boat ramps in Pensacola Bay at Navy Point and at Mahogany Mill; in Perdido Bay at Galvez Landing and at Perdido public boat ramp. The dune project was completed in November 2012; the boat ramps are in various stages of completion. Boat ramps cost: $4,406,309. Restoration on the beach: $585,898. — The second phase of NRDA projects on shorebird and sea turtle nesting habitats, at a total cost of $6.3 million. They are to take place in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf and Franklin counties. These included marking nesting area so that people know they are off limits, predator monitoring, and turtle-friendly lighting. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation money: This money has come in two phases to our area through NFWF’s Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund, created as part of the settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice and BP and Transocean to resolve criminal charges against both companies in relation to the spill. A total of $356 million will be paid into the Gulf Fund over five years for conservation projects in the state of Florida. Local projects that have been funded with this money include $11 million for projects that will improve the water quality in Bayou Chico, one of the area’s most endangered waterways. It also has included $1.486,000 for habitat restoration on Escribano Point and $3 million for the second phase of a five-year study by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to study the health of fishing stock, especially improving red snapper counts. Industry Recruitment, Retention, Expansion Grant Program The University of West Florida Office of Economic Development and Engagement managed these funds. The Industry Recruitment, Retention and Expansion Grant Program, which was launched in 2011 as part of Florida’s Oil Spill Recovery Act. The program was established to help communities in eight counties disproportionally affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It gave out $30 million over three years in grants to companies to help them diversify, expand or lure new business. The last grant it gave was a $210,000 grant to SunCoast Converters Inc. to help the automotive parts and service company relocate to a larger facility in Fort Walton Beach.

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"BP oil spill money" pots at a glance

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