RESTORE Act

Purpose

The RESTORE Act allocates 80 percent of the amount of any Clean Water Act fines from the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill to the Gulf Coast. Under RESTORE, the fines are divided into several different sources of funding, with different permissible uses and various methods for approving projects. Importantly, 75 percent of Florida’s allocation will come directly to the eight disproportionately impacted panhandle counties which include: Bay, Escambia, Franklin, Gulf, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Wakulla, and Walton.

Splitting Funds

Several parties were involved with the various settlements resulting from the Deepwater Horizon blowout, explosion, oil spill and response. To date, MOEX has settled all of its civil liability while Transocean will pay $1 billion in partial Clean Water Act civil penalties, which were the first funds dispersed through the formula outlined in the RESTORE Act. On July 2, 2015, a settlement was reached between BP and gulf states including $5.5 billion in Clean Water Act civil penalties which will be paid out over 15 years.

The total funding available for eligible activities under the direct component depends on the trust fund balance and any adjustment due to sequestration. The U.S. Department of Treasury provides a periodic update of trust fund allocations available to all affected counties under the RESTORE Act. Over a 15 year period, Santa Rosa County’s estimated gross allocation will be approximately $29 million. The initial projects identified for this fund are listed in the Santa Rosa County Multi Year Implementation Plan.

Multi Year Implementation Plan

Santa Rosa County welcomes public input and review of the 2nd proposed amendments to the Multi Year Implementation Plan (MYIP) that was initially accepted by Treasury in May 2017 and was first amended in September 2019.  A 45-day public review and comment period has commenced before the amended plan is sent to the U.S. Treasury Department for review. Residents can view and comment on the proposed MYIP amendments under Quick Links: RESTORE Act Direct Component Amendment #2.  Residents may submit written comments by emailing grants@santarosa.fl.gov or by mail to Grants and Special Programs, Attn: RESTORE Program Manager, 6495 Caroline St. Milton, FL. 32570.