RESTORE Projects

The RESTORE Act has given the Gulf Region an opportunity to invest in projects that will have a lasting, meaningful, and sustainable impact on Santa Rosa County’s environment, infrastructure and economy. RESTORE projects in Santa Rosa County can be funded by Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill penalties through various entities including the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), Direct Component Allocation, Gulf Coast Ecosystem RESTORE Council, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Centers of Excellence.

Through the Direct Component, known as "Pot-1" funds, Santa Rosa County is expected to have approximately $29 million for projects meeting RESTORE criteria until 2031.  After public input and two Board approved amendments a total of 12 projects are included in the Multi-Year Implementation Plan (MYIP) that was approved by the U.S. Treasury.  See Quicklinks below for project descriptions.

​​On July 28, 2016, the Board of County Commissioners designated all available Spill Impact Component funding, commonly referred to as “Pot-3”, toward projects improving the water quality in Santa Rosa Sound.  Approximately $12 million have been allocated for such projects.  A description can be found in the RESTORE Statewide Expenditure Plan (SEP) that was developed by the Gulf Consortium, a public entity among Florida's 23 Gulf Coast counties created to administer the State Plan for economic and environmental recovery of the Gulf Coast in Florida following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  See here for a map of all Deepwater Horizon funded restoration projects throughout the state of Florida.​
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