Spill Impact Component Planning Grants
On August 22, 2014, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council) published an Interim Final Rule in the Federal Register for Gulf Coast states to receive funding for development of State Expenditure Plans. The Final Rule was published on January 13, 2015. The Final Rule provides access to up to 5% of the funds available to each State under the Oil Spill Impact Component for planning.
Read the Public Comments received in response to the Interim Final Rule.
The Council published the draft rule in the Federal Register for a 30- day public comment period. The Council received comments addressing the draft rule from Gulf Stakeholders and these comments were addressed in the Supplementary Information to the Final Rule.
On December 31, 2014, the RESTORE Council published a Notice of Funding Availability in the Federal Register and on Grants.gov for Spill Impact Component Planning Grants . Eligible entities, such as the State RESTORE Council Members and the Florida Gulf Consortium, submitted applications to the RESTORE Council for funding under the Spill Impact Component, commonly referred to as “Bucket 3”, of the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act (RESTORE Act) for planning purposes.
This is a two-phase application process. The first part of the application process is the submission of a Planning State Expenditure Plan (PSEP), which must be approved by the RESTORE Council Chairperson. The second part of the application process is the submission of grant application. The grant application cannot be submitted until the PSEP has been approved by the Chairperson. Both the PSEP and the grant application must be submitted through Restoration Assistance and Award Management System (RAAMS), an electronic grants system utilized by the RESTORE Council for the management of grants and interagency agreements, additional information about this system for eligible entities can be found on the Council Grants Office page. The announcement for Spill Impact Component Planning Grants provides detailed information and requirements for both phases.
Alabama Draft Planning State Expenditure Plan
On July 10, 2018, the RESTORE Council’s Executive Director provided a recommendation memo to the Council Chair, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to approve the Alabama Planning State Expenditure Plan (PSEP). This PSEP, if approved by the Council Chair, would provide $339,775 to support planning activities needed to develop a State Expenditure Plan. Pursuant to the RESTORE Act, States must submit PSEPs for approval by the Council Chair.