Town seeks funding for pipe dream

When excess water goes down a drain on Longboat Key, it’s channeled through a sewer pipeline beneath Sarasota Bay, where it eventually makes its way to the Manatee County wastewater plant to be treated and used for industrial uses.

It has never been looked inside of during its 41 years in use — and that’s a problem that has the town preparing for a project that’s estimated to cost $19 million.

“It could last 20 more years or 20 more minutes,” Longboat Key Public Works Director Juan Florensa said. “This project is a big undertaking, regardless, the pipe is beyond its time and the town has been looking into replacing it for several years.”

The town has already received six proposals from contractors for the project, and on Sept. 18, a selection committee will meet to review all of the proposals, rank and narrow them down to three. The proposals will then be sent to Town Manager Dave Bullock for a final decision.

After Bullock decides on the top two proposals, the leading contractor will begin to design the project and negotiate the contract in hopes of starting to build in late 2015.

The project will take several years to build and cost a lot of money, but Sarasota Bay Estuary Program Director Mark Alderson told the Longboat Key Town Commission at its Sept. 8 regular meeting about ways for the town to secure funds for the expensive project without raising taxes.

Alderson highlighted ways to pay for the expensive new pipeline beneath Sarasota Bay through the Clean Water Act and Restore Act, using money from settlements received after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill by British Petroleum in 2010.

The Restore Trust has more than $800 million in it from the Transocean’s $1 billion civil settlement with BP in 2013.

And, of the $2.4 billion in fines also levied to National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, $300 million was designated for Florida.

Alderson added that the Clean Water Act grants the Federal Environmental Protection Agency authority to impose fines on parties responsible for oil spills, and that the Restore Act was then passed by Congress to disperse the fines received from the spill.

He clarified the Restore Act was passed to clarify the disbursement of money from Clean Water Act fines that resulted from the oil spill on the federal level, not ones levied by private individuals and business.

“When we had the oil spill, BP was fined by the government, and once they paid those fines the federal government decided to use that many and prevent the depravation of the surrounding waters,” he said.

Alderson said that as a federally approved conservation management planning area through the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, his group is eligible for the use of those funds.

Longboat Key is at the top of the program’s list of Nutrients and Dissolved Oxygen Reduction Projects for a total request of $16 million in funds. Before the town receives any settlement money, though, the funding must be approved in Tallahassee before going to the federal level for approval.

“Getting that funding would help offset raising local taxes and utility fees to help pay for the project,” Alderson said. “And that would just be better all-around for the town of Longboat Key.”

Alderson said his program has been dedicated to restoring the region’s most important natural asset, Sarasota Bay, since 1989. The program strives to improve water quality, increase habitat and enhance the area’s natural resources for the use and enjoyment by the public.