The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) has awarded two Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) grants totaling $481,978 to the state of Louisiana and Vermilion Parish, La. The grants will fund beach and dune restoration planning along the West Caminada Headland in Lafourche Parish, La., and a shoreline protection and marsh creation plan at Tiger Point in Vermilion Parish.
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.
A grant to Louisiana’s Department of Natural Resources will help fund a beach/dune restoration, marsh creation, and habitat protection initiative along the West Caminada Headland, a formation in Lafourche Parish near the entrance to Port Fourchon. This $295,523 grant will support costs associated with the initial planning, oversight, coordination and management by state Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration employees during Phase I of the project.
A grant to Vermilion Parish, for $186,455, will be used to support the engineering and design of a shoreline protection project at Tiger Point. The initiative is expected to create marsh and reduce shoreline erosion rates in areas that have been impacted by the oil and gas industry. The project includes the design of a breakwater device to reduce the impact of waves in the Tiger Point area, which is located in coastal Vermilion Parish along the Gulf of Mexico shoreline.
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: Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, California, Mississippi and Texas.