Deepwater Horizon – BOEM Response

Since 2002, BOEM’s Gulf of Mexico region has leased more than 72 million cubic yards of sand for use in coastal restoration projects. About two-thirds of the leased sand, or 49 million cubic yards, have been leased since 2010. Many are taking place with funds from the Deepwater Horizon fines and penalties in the aftermath of the oil spill. Projects using OCS sand currently in progress offshore Louisiana are:

• Caillou Lake Headlands (also known as Whiskey Island), funded by the Natural Resources Damage Assessment Early Restoration Project, is excavating up to 13.4 million cubic yards of high-quality sand from Ship Shoal, the largest volume of OCS material authorized for use on a single project in the program’s history. The sand, located nine miles offshore on the OCS, will be pumped through a temporary pipeline to the project site to construct some 1,100 acres of barrier island habitat.

• East Timbalier Island Restoration, funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation ( NFWF) out of the Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund, expects to extract OCS sediment resources from the Ship Shoal sand body in South Pelto blocks located approximately 14.7 nm southwest of East Timbalier Project(TE-118).

• North Breton Island, funded by the Natural Resources Damage Assessment Early Restoration Project, will use between three million and six million cubic yards of OCS sand in Breton Sound and Main Pass to restore barrier island dune and marsh habitat in Breton National Wildlife Refuge.

 

In addition to ongoing projects, several projects along the Louisiana coast have been completed, and collectively used approximately 17.1 million cubic yards of OCS sand. These include:

• Caminada Headland Beach and Dune Restoration Increments I and II;
• Cameron Parish Shoreline Restoration;
• Raccoon Island Backbarrier Marsh Restoration; and
• Pelican Island Restoration.