St. Mary gets $833K in federal money for projects
St. Mary Parish is set to receive over $800,000 in federal energy revenues that parish leaders intend to use for drainage, hurricane projection, pumping and other infrastructure projects.
These funds are not always guaranteed to come to the parish each year, so St. Mary plans to do what other parishes are doing and “lock it in and basically bond that money out for numerous projects throughout the parish,” St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff said.
U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced in a Thursday news release that the Department will disburse nearly $215 million in fiscal year 2018 energy revenues to the four Gulf oil and gas producing states, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas and their coastal political subdivisions an increase of 14.3 percent over the prior year.
St. Mary Parish will receive $833,307 of the $94.7 million coming to Louisiana and 19 parishes.
This represents the second disbursement under Phase II of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006, known as GOMESA. The funds will be used to support coastal conservation and restoration projects, hurricane protection programs, and activities to implement marine, coastal or conservation management plans, the release said.
GOMESA funds are derived from qualified oil and gas leasing revenues on the Outer Continental Shelf, and disbursed in accordance with the revenue-sharing provisions of the GOMESA legislation. During fiscal year 2018, Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue disbursed approximately $76 million to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (and $309 million to the U.S. Treasury from bonuses, rentals, and royalties paid for GOMESA lease, the release said.
“This announcement is great news for South Louisiana and will provide critical funding for coastal restoration efforts in our state,” said U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Port Barre, in a news release.
“We have worked closely with the entire Louisiana delegation to prioritize GOMESA funding and expand revenue sharing provisions. This means greater investment into mitigation and restoration projects along our coast,” Higgins said.