Governor Rick Scott announced today the third set of proposed Natural Resource Damage Assessment early restoration projects proposed by Florida’s Trustees. Five Escambia County specific projects and four regional projects impacting the county are on the list, totaling a potential $45 million investment.
Escambia County specific projects include:
- Big Lagoon State Park Boat Ramp Improvement Project - $1,483,990
- Bob Sikes Pier, Parking and Trail Restoration Project - $1,023,990
- Florida Gulf Coast Marine Fisheries Hatchery/Enhancement Center Project - $18,793,500
- Perdido Key Dune Restoration Project - $611,234
- Perdido Key State Park Beach Boardwalk Improvement Project - $588,500
Regional projects impacting Escambia County include:
- Florida Artificial Reef Creation and Restoration Project - $11,463,587
- Florida Oyster Cultch Placement Project - $5,370,596
- Florida Seagrass Recovery Project - $2,691,867
- Scallop Enhancement for Increased Recreational Fishing Opportunity in the Florida Panhandle Project - $2,890,250
Before any of the proposed projects are finalized the projects will go through a 60-day public comment period that runs through February 4. Included in the comment period are two public meetings in Florida; one in Pensacola on Tuesday, January 28, and Wednesday, January 29, in Panama City.
“The Deepwater Horizon spill was a defining moment for Escambia County and we are still working to restore our critical ecosystems,” said Grover C. Robinson, IV, District 4 Commissioner and Gulf Coast Consortium Chairman. “We could not have done this without the joint efforts of the federal government, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Governor Rick Scott.”
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are co-Trustees for the state of Florida in the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment. Other members of the Trustee Council include the U.S. Department of Interior, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Trustees from the other affected Gulf States (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas). The Trustee Council represents the public interest and works together to assess the injury to natural resources and develop plans to restore the injured resources through the Natural Resource Damage Assessment process.
For more information on the Natural Resource Damage Assessment process, public meetings, and projects ideas being submitted visit www.deepwaterhorizonflorida.com.
To stay in the know with the latest happenings in Escambia County, follow @MyEscambia on Twitter. For more information, contact the Office of Public Information and Communications at (850) 595-3476.
