MILTON — Santa Rosa Sound’s health and preservation received a boost from the Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners when the board voted July 28 to direct future funding from the RESTORE Act toward water quality projects.
"This was one of those memorable and rewarding days in public service. The board's vote will truly make a generational impact," said District 4 Commissioner Rob Williamson. "This funding brings $12 million to improve water quality in the Santa Rosa Sound and help restore this body of water for generations to come — a big win for Santa Rosa County."
Staff will continue providing updates to the board on activities and developments related to "pot three" — the Spill Impact Component of the state expenditure plan — as well as other oil spill funding sources.
The RESTORE Act allocates 80 percent of the Clean Water Act fines from the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Under RESTORE, the fines are divided into several different sources of funding, or "pots," with different permissible uses and various methods for approving projects.
Pot three, the Spill Impact Component, is administered by the Gulf Consortium and divides available funding evenly among Florida's 23 gulf coast counties.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa Sound receives funding for water quality projects