FORT WALTON BEACH — RESTORE Act dollars paid for Clean Water Act violations have found their way to the federal treasury, and the shares each affected Florida county will receive has been calculated.
Come March 31, Okaloosa will have $6,405,938 in fine money at its disposal, Walton $5,768,962 and Santa Rosa $4,416,336, records show. These dollars come from Transocean, a BP contractor, as part of its settlement for violating the Clean Water Act in 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred off Louisiana.
These are the first oil spill dollars “exclusively controlled by the county,” said Sal Nodjomian whose Niceville-based Matrix Design Group is acting as Okaloosa’s RESTORE Act consultant.
Recent calculations based on ongoing court proceedings have given Okaloosa County officials the notion that possibly another $65 to $66 million will come to the county when BP’s fines are calculated, said Rick Owen, Okaloosa County’s RESTORE Act coordinator.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Tri-county area will have millions in cash available March 31