The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has approved a grant for $450,000 to the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP), to fund phases one and two of a project to document and conserve the heritage resources of the Mississippi gulf coast.
Grant funding for the first two phases will identify resources and collect data of known and potential heritage resource locations in the coastal counties of Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson. The project is expected to conserve the natural, scenic, historical, archaeological, and cultural environments of the Mississippi gulf coast.
The CIAP was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Through the program, MMS will provide $250m in grants annually, from 2007-2010, to six eligible Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas producing states – Mississippi, Alabama, Alaska, California, Louisiana, and Texas. The funding to Mississippi included $30.9 million for each of the fiscal years 2007 and 2008 and $23.8m for 2009 and 2010. Three Coastal Political Subdivisions (counties) share in the funding of projects outlined in the state’s approved plan.