Miss. plans for RESTORE funds

Mississippi is planning to spend $37.8M in this year’s federal installment of BP oil spill RESTORE Act monies. The plans focus primarily on economic, environmental, and transportation projects. RESTORE Act allocates 80 percent of the penalties from the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill across five Gulf Coast states. The biggest Mississippi project is $12M for mud and sand dredging of coastal waters to create new marshland across the three coastal counties. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality said the money will add to three previous efforts to use dredge spoils, including one that has built about 220 acres of marsh. The project is slated to begin in 2019. Some of the other monies include $6M for artificial breakwater structures in Hancock County to prevent marshland erosion. The work has already cost $56M, and includes six miles of breakwater and 46 acres of oyster reefs; $5M to fund a worker skill program, including one in unmanned drone technology, at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College; $1.35M for the Mississippi Aquarium in Gulfport. $650,000 to set up a program in conjunction with the Nature Conservancy to collect discarded oyster shells and return them to Mississippi oyster reefs; and $400,000 to market Mississippi seafood. (Source: The Associated Press 11/15/18)