The Texas Draft State Expenditure Plan (SEP), developed pursuant to the Spill Impact Component of the RESTORE Act (commonly referred to as “Bucket 3”), is now available for public comment until August 27, 2018, reports the RESTORE Council.
According to the RESTORE Council, the “Bucket 3” provides funding to the five Gulf Coast states (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas) for ecosystem restoration, shoreline and beach restoration, removal of debris or sediment from waterways, etc.
“ To access these funds, each state must first have a SEP approved by the RESTORE Council. Upon approval of a SEP, the state then applies to the RESTORE Council for grants for activities in the approved plan ,” reported the Council.
“ Due to the devastating and long-range effects of Hurricane Harvey, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and TCEQ Commissioner Toby Baker have determined this first Texas SEP will focus on hurricane recovery efforts that include ecological and economic, as well as resiliency-related program s,” the release said.
After taking public comments into consideration and upon RESTORE Council approval of the SEP, Commissioner Baker, in collaboration with the Office of the Governor, and working with the Governor’s Commission to Rebuild Texas, will select projects to implement the programmatic areas.
Collaboration will also include exchanges with federal, state and local elected officials, as well as the public. Approximately $31 million is currently available to fund activities in an approved Texas SEP.