DEEPWATER HORIZON TRUSTEES ANNOUNCE RESCHEDULED PENSACOLA PUBLIC MEETING DATE

Florida DEP Banner

PRESS RELEASE: Jan. 28, 2014

CONTACT: DEP Press Office, 850.245.2112, DEPNews@dep.state.fl.us 

DEEPWATER HORIZON NATURAL RESOURCE TRUSTEES ANNOUNCE RESCHEDULED PENSACOLA PUBLIC MEETING DATE

PENSACOLA – The Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will host the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees public meeting on Monday, Feb. 3 at the Pensacola Bay Center; 201 E. Gregory Street.  An open house will begin at 6:00p.m. CST and the meeting presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by a public comment session.  The original public meeting was scheduled for today, and was cancelled due to Escambia County declaring a local state of emergency because of winter weather concerns.     

The second public meeting, originally scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 29, is still being held at the Hilton Garden Inn, 1101 US Highway 231, Panama City. The meeting will begin with an open house at 6 p.m. CST and the public meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. The purpose of these meetings is to solicit public comment on the Draft Programmatic and Phase III Early Restoration Plan and Draft Early Restoration Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Draft Phase III ERP/PEIS). 

The Draft Phase III ERP/PEIS describes the third and largest round of projects proposed to receive funding from the $1 billion BP committed to Early Restoration in April 2011, along with a proposed programmatic plan and programmatic environmental impact statement for continuing early restoration.    

The public comment period on the Draft Phase III ERP/PEIS has been extended from Feb. 4 through Feb. 19. Visit www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov to download an electronic copy of the Plan and to submit comments online. For more information on the State of Florida’s oil spill recovery efforts visit www.deepwaterhorizonflorida.com.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, any person requiring special accommodations to participate in this meeting is asked to advise the Trustees at least three days before the meeting by calling Nanciann Regalado at (678) 296-6805, nanciann_regalado@fws.gov.