The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has awarded an $80,000 grant to the North Slope Borough through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) for an outreach project that will assist in coastal community planning.
The project will cover administrative costs to encourage public participation through community meetings in the remote villages of the North Slope Borough. The meetings will focus on gathering information needed to identify, prioritize and work toward protecting key coastal areas and important coastal uses, including subsistence activities. Information gathered will be used in ongoing and future resource-use planning and permitting processes.
'We are pleased that this MMS Coastal Impact Assistance Program project will aid the North Slope Borough in revising its zoning and permitting codes and the Borough’s Oil and Gas Comprehensive Plan by bringing in village voices to the Borough’s strategic planning,' said MMS Alaska Regional Director John Goll.
Alaska’s CIAP plan was approved by the Minerals Management Service on September 30, 2008. The CIAP was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and provides $250 million in grants annually, from 2007-2010, to six eligible Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas producing states – Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, California, and Mississippi. The total funding to Alaska includes $79.8 million for fiscal years 2007 through 2010.
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