Commission explores options to spend BP oil spill money

Although it’s been almost five years since the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, it will take until March for Sarasota County to receive some settlement money from the spill.
Now it just has to decide how to spend it.

The U.S. Congress passed the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourism Opportunities and Revived Economy (RESTORE) Act to structure the disbursement of civil penalty funds from the spill to the federal, state and local levels.

Transocean Deepwater Inc., a drilling subcontractor for BP, settled out of court in 2013. Thanks to the RESTORE Act, a little more than $1 million from the settlement will be available in March 2015 in Sarasota County’s coffers.

Laird Wreford, coastal initiatives manager for the county, updated Sarasota County commissioners about the funds at their meeting Tuesday.

Before gaining access to the funds, the county will have to submit a plan to the federal government outlining the project or projects on which the money is being spent.

The $1 million can be used at the board’s discretion, Wreford said. It could vote to spend $50,000 on 20 different projects or it could dedicate the entire sum to one.

The $1 million is only the funding coming from the subcontractor’s settlement; more funds related to the spill will become available either if BP settles out of court or if BP is determined negligent in a trial, Wreford said. The amount that will come out of the deal could range from $5 million to $21 million.
Wreford told commissioners they could choose not to spend any funds until BP’s money was added.

“There are a lot of options before us,” Wreford said.

The money doesn’t have to be applied to natural resource protection and restoration projects, though. Wreford suggested the county consider funding needs in the tourism, workforce development and job creation sectors as well.

Wreford said he wanted to have staff examine those three areas to identify projects for consideration and bring it back to the board.

“Frankly, a million dollars is wonderful, but it will not fund many projects,” he said.

Chairman Charles Hines said the funds should be used for the Dona Bay Watershed water quality restoration project, which aims to improve the flow of fresh water into Lemon Bay off the coast of Nokomis.

The $16 million project was originally placed on the county’s priority list for state and federal funds from the RESTORE Act. At its Oct. 7 meeting, the board approved moving Dona Bay to the top of the list for federal funding.

Though the project made the top of the commission’s priority list, with the knowledge that the money could go to different categories, not all of the other commissioners agreed.

The commissioners voted unanimously to direct staff to look into the other areas eligible for funding and bring back additional project options to the board.