Okaloosa County BOCC — November 16, 2013 — reading text

5 Packet Pg. 552  INITIAL COMPREHENSIVE PLAN In addition to establishing the Trust Fund, the RESTORE Act establishes the Council as an independent entity in the Federal Government. The Council is charged with helping to restore the ecosystem and economy of the Gulf Coast region by developing and overseeing implementation of a Comprehensive Plan and carrying out other responsibilities. The Council is chaired by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce and includes the Governors of the States of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas and the Secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Army, Homeland Security and the Interior, and the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Council has responsibilities with respect to 60 percent of the funds made available from the Trust Fund. Thirty percent of the Trust Fund, plus interest, will be administered for ecosystem restoration and protection by the Council according to Section IV of this Plan (Council-Selected Restoration Component). The other 30 percent of the Trust Fund will be allocated to the Gulf Coast States under a formula described in the RESTORE Act and spent according to individual State Expenditure Plans (Spill Impact Component). The State Expenditure Plans must be consistent with the Goals and Objectives of this Plan and are subject to the Council’s approval. Remaining RESTORE Act funds not within the Council’s responsibilities are: the Direct Component (35 percent of the funds), available to the Gulf Coast States in equal shares; the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Science Program (2.5 percent of the funds plus interest); and Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program (2.5 percent of the funds plus interest). See Figure 1 above for a breakdown of the five components. Commitment to Science-Based Decision-Making The decisions made pursuant to the Plan will be based on the best available science, and this Plan will evolve over time to incorporate new science, information, and changing conditions. The Council will coordinate with the scientific community to improve decision-making. The Council will consider the most effective means of ensuring that its decisions are based on the best available science, including the creation of a science advisory committee or some other structure, to inform its decisions and facilitate coordination across various Gulf restoration efforts. Commitment to a Regional Ecosystem-based Approach to Restoration The Council recognizes that upland, estuarine, and marine habitats are intrinsically connected, and will promote ecosystem-based and landscape-scale restoration without regard to geographic location within the Gulf Coast region. A regional approach to restoration more effectively leverages the resources of the Gulf Coast and promotes holistic Gulf Coast recovery. The Council recognizes that regional ecosystem restoration activities can also have multiple human and environmental benefits, such as restoring habitats that sustainably support diverse fish and GULF COAST ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION COUNCIL 6 Packet Pg. 553  INITIAL COMPREHENSIVE PLAN wildlife populations, while also providing an array of commercial, recreational, and other human uses of the ecosystem. Commitment to Engagement, Inclusion, and Transparency It is the Council’s intent to seek broad participation and input from the diverse stakeholders who live, work, and play in the Gulf Coast region in both the continued development of this Plan and the ultimate selection and funding of ecosystem restoration activities. The Council intends to provide opportunities to facilitate the formation of strategic partnerships and collaboration on innovative ecosystem restoration projects, programs, and approaches that might ultimately form the basis of a proposal to the Council. The Council is committed to engaging the public and tribes, and will use its website, www.restorethegulf.gov, to collect comments, questions, and suggestions for Council consideration. The Council intends to create a public engagement structure that reflects the richness and diversity of Gulf Coast communities to ensure ongoing public participation in the Council’s restoration efforts. Commitment to Leveraging Resources and Partnerships The Council will encourage partnerships and welcome additional public and private financial and technical support to maximize outcomes and impacts. Such partnerships will add value through integration of public and private sector skills, knowledge, and expertise. Commitment to Delivering Results and Measuring Impacts The Council recognizes the importance of measuring outcomes and impacts in order to achieve tangible results and ensure that funds are invested in a meaningful way. The Council will consider a variety of methods to measure and report on the results and impacts of Council- Selected Restoration Component activities and will include project- or program-specific measurement and reporting requirements in funding agreements with Council Members. GULF COAST ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION COUNCIL 7 Packet Pg. 554  INITIAL COMPREHENSIVE PLAN III. GOALS Building on the strong foundation established in the Task Force Strategy and other local, regional, state, and federal plans, the Council is taking an integrated and coordinated approach to Gulf Coast restoration. This approach strives to both restore the Gulf Coast region’s environment and, at the same time, revitalize the region’s economy because the Council recognizes that ecosystem restoration investments may also improve economic prosperity and quality of life. In addition, this approach acknowledges that coordinated action with other partners is important to successfully restore and sustain the health of the Gulf Coast region. This coordination is particularly important because diverse funding sources and decision-making bodies are investing in Gulf Coast restoration. To provide the overarching framework for an integrated and coordinated approach for region- wide Gulf Coast restoration and to help guide the collective actions at the local, state, tribal and federal levels, the Council has adopted five goals. (1) Restore and Conserve Habitat – Restore and conserve the health, diversity, and resilience of key coastal, estuarine, and marine habitats. (2) Restore Water Quality – Restore and protect water quality of the Gulf Coast region’s fresh, estuarine, and marine waters. (3) Replenish and Protect Living Coastal and Marine Resources – Restore and protect healthy, diverse, and sustainable living coastal and marine resources. (4) Enhance Community Resilience – Build upon and sustain communities with capacity to adapt to short- and long-term changes. (5) Restore and Revitalize the Gulf Economy – Enhance the sustainability and resiliency of the Gulf economy. The fifth goal focuses on reviving and supporting a sustainable Gulf economy to ensure that those expenditures by the Gulf Coast States authorized in the RESTORE Act under the Direct Component and the Spill Impact Component (Figure 1) can be considered in the context of comprehensive restoration. To achieve all five goals, the Council will support ecosystem restoration that can enhance local communities by giving people desirable places to live, work, and play, while creating opportunities for new and existing businesses of all sizes, especially those dependent on natural resources. In addition, the Council will support ecosystem restoration that builds local workforce capacity. Ecosystem restoration activities can also directly support the region’s ability to withstand, prevent, and quickly recover from future natural or man-made disruptions. This includes promoting natural storm buffers and other ecosystem restoration activities that produce GULF COAST ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION COUNCIL 8 Packet Pg. 555  INITIAL COMPREHENSIVE PLAN environmental benefits and reduce economic losses from storm surge flooding to residential, public, industrial, and commercial infrastructure. The Council will work to coordinate restoration activities under the Council-Selected Restoration Component and the Spill Impact Component to further the goals. While the Council does not have direct involvement in the activities undertaken by the States or local governments through the Direct Component, the Council will strive, as appropriate, to coordinate its work with those activities. In addition, the Council will actively coordinate with the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Science Program and the Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program. The Council recognizes that there are other partners critical to restoring and sustaining the health of the Gulf Coast region. The Council will coordinate, as appropriate, with states, federal agencies, tribes, and other entities working in the Gulf Coast region to achieve common goals, create regulatory efficiencies, and collectively work towards an integrated vision for comprehensive restoration. Additionally, the Council will coordinate with other intergovernmental bodies and Gulf Coast restoration initiatives, as appropriate, to ensure that efforts are complementary and mutually beneficial. Specifically, the Council recognizes similar work resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill undertaken by the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Trustees, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), and the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund (NAWCF). A brief overview of these efforts is provided below.  The Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees are assessing injury to natural resources and the services they provide, as well as the lost use of such resources, resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf and the Gulf Coast States. Damages for natural resource injury will include the cost of restoring, rehabilitating, replacing, or acquiring the equivalent of the injured natural resources; the diminution in value of those natural resources pending restoration; and the reasonable cost of assessing those injuries as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Trustees are using a public process to select and implement restoration projects.  NFWF was established by Congress in 1984. NFWF will receive over $2.5 billion throughout the next five years from the Transocean (January 2013) and BP (November 2012) criminal plea agreements with the United States. NFWF has stated that these funds will be used “to support projects that remedy harm to natural resources (habitats, species) where there has been injury to, or destruction of, loss of, or loss of use of those resources resulting from the oil spill.”  The NAS received $500 million from the Transocean and BP criminal plea agreements. These funds are to be used for human health and environmental protection, including oil spill prevention and response in the Gulf region. GULF COAST ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION COUNCIL 9