Transocean money will fund coastal work

About $180 million in coastal restoration projects should be in the works by the end of the year using Transocean settlement funds from the 2010 oil spill.
The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority held a public meeting Wednesday evening in Morgan City to discuss proposed Restore Act projects that would use oil spill settlement funds from Transocean.
Out of the terrible tragedy of the 2010 BP oil spill, in which 11 people died, comes “immense opportunity” to restore the coast due to the settlement funds, but leaders need to have plans in place to make that restoration a reality, said Justin Ehrenwerth, executive director of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council. The restoration council is working to do just that, he said.
In 2013, Transocean reached a $1 billion settlement with the U.S. government for its role in the BP oil spill.
Within the Transocean funds are “buckets” of money to be used for different purposes, Ehrenwerth said.
The Restore Council is tasked with determining which coastal restoration projects should receive Restore Act funding. For one of the “buckets” of funding, the council has $180 million “to do Gulf Coast restoration without regard to geographic location,” Ehrenwerth said.
Council members are looking at projects “that will provide the greatest contribution to restoring the ecosystem, projects that build on existing coastal plans and projects that provide for the long-term resilience for those areas that were really hit hardest by the spill,” Ehrenwerth said.
The council received 50 proposals for projects. In formulating which projects to consider funding, the council identified 10 key watersheds along the coast from Texas to Florida, he said.
One of those watersheds is the Mississippi River Delta for which the council identified the following seven projects:
—Biloxi Marsh Living Shoreline is a $3.2 million planning project to create 47,000 feet of “living shoreline,” which is an eco-friendly way of providing erosion protection.
—West Grand Terre Grand Beach Nourishment is a $7.3 million proposal to help with barrier island restoration.
—Golden Triangle Marsh Creation is a $4.4 million planning project in the state master plan that would create about 600 acres of wetlands to protect the New Orleans area.
—Lowermost Mississippi River Management is a $9.3 million “critically important planning project” to examine the river for navigation purposes while studying the “river’s power for ecosystem restoration,” Ehrenwerth said.
—Mississippi River Reintroduction into the Maurepas Swamp is a $14.2 million planning project to build over 45,000 acres of forested wetlands that will help with “the resiliency of the communities, especially in the Maurepas area,” he said.
—Jean Lafitte Canal Backfilling is an $8.7 million project to backfilling about 16.5 miles of abandoned oil and gas canals in an effort to restore habitat and “natural hydrology” of the region, he said.
—Bayou Dularge Ridge, Marsh and Hydrologic Restoration is a $5.2 million project, which has restoration benefits and will preserve the culture and history of the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, Ehrenwerth said.
The public is encouraged to provide comments of the initial draft lift of projects by the Sept. 28 deadline. At the end of the year, the council plans to finalize the list of proposed projects. Comments can be submitted through the following methods:
1. Online at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?documentID=67759 (preferred method).
2. By mail to Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council. Attention: Draft FPL Comments, Hale Boggs Federal Building, 500 Poydras Street, Suite 1117, New Orleans, LA 70130.
3. By email to draftfplcomments@restorethegulf.gov.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com