BOEMRE Awards $1.8 Million in Grants to
AlabamaCIAP Grants to Fund Conservation,
Construction and Wetlands Initiatives
NEW ORLEANS – The Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) today
announced it has awarded more than $1.8 million in Coastal Impact
Assistance Program (CIAP) grants to the state of Alabama and to
Mobile County, Ala. The grants will fund ongoing wetlands
preservation, facility upgrades, and outreach initiatives for the
state’s coastal areas.
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.
“CIAP grants enable us to work in
partnership with Alabama and its coastal communities to fund
important wetlands preservation and infrastructure initiatives such
as these, which will help preserve our fragile coastal environment
for future generations,” said BOEMRE Director Michael R. Bromwich.
The five grants will provide:
$937,692 for the acquisition and
protection of Parcel A, a 4.4-acre tract of developed property
on the western end of the town of Dauphin Island, in coastal
Mobile County. The project will protect sensitive waterfront
plant and sea life habitats on Dauphin Island.
$525,000 to augment improvements
made to Alabama’s Marine Resources Division facilities, also on
Dauphin Island. The award will fund additional engineering and
construction fees for the boat dock cover and primary boat
basin. The upgrade will heighten research infrastructure and
provide additional resources to further enhance Alabama’s
coastal environmental research initiatives.
$174,000 to fund management of
the state’s CIAP initiatives in an efficient, cost-effective and
organized manner to meet the established requirements. The
program is managed by the Alabama Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources in Spanish Fort, Ala.
$100,000 to support the
development of a comprehensive wetlands restoration strategy to
be employed in several communities along the Alabama Gulf Coast
in Mobile and Baldwin Counties. These include: Grand Bay,
Mobile-Tensas Delta, Lillian Swamp and Perdido River. It is the
second grant approved for the Alabama Wetland Restoration
Project in coastal Alabama.
$89,399 to Mobile County to
provide additional funds to the original November 2010 CIAP
grant for improvements to the Mobile County River Delta Tourism
and Welcome Center. These will include the protection of water
quality, replacement of aging structures, creation of marine
wastewater facilities, and the implementation of an
environmental outreach and education program for boaters and
visitors to the facility. The Welcome Center is located in
Creola, approximately 15 miles north of Mobile, Ala.
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: Alabama,
Alaska, California, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Contact: BOEMRE
Public Affairs-Gulf