Twenty-three projects in Baldwin and Mobile counties will receive $45 million through the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006, Gov. Kay Ivey announced on Tuesday.
“I am thrilled to announce the 2025 GOMESA projects,” Ivey said in a written statement. “Working closely with Commissioner (Chris) Blankenship and his team at the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, we will share more than $45 million with cities, towns, counties and the University of South Alabama to fund these worthy projects that will provide great benefit to the citizens of Coastal Alabama.”
More than $260 million in GOMESA projects have been awarded since Ivey took office in 2017.
The nearly 20-year-old federal act created a revenue-sharing model for oil- and gas-producing gulf states. Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas receive a portion of the revenue generated from oil and gas production offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.
According to the act, money can be distributed to the states and coastal political subdivisions, defined as within a coastal zone and not more than 200 nautical miles from the center of a leased track.
Entities can now get more GOMESA funds through the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed in July. It increased the revenue-sharing cap from $500 million to $650 million beginning in fiscal year 2025 through 2034.
Alabama last year received $30 million, in 2023 it received $67 million.
Coastal counties also receive their own direct allocation and earlier this year, prior to the increase in the federal bill, the interior department said Baldwin County would receive $4.6 million and Mobile County would receive $5.3 million.
The projects funded with the state allocation and announced by Ivey Tuesday are:
- Citronelle Youth Field lighting enhancement – $1.2 million
- Creola Public Safety Building, $2 million
- Creola wetlands acquisition, $350,000
- Silverhill Oscar Johnson Park improvements, $1.5 million
- Foley Nature Parks expansion, $1.5 million
- Satsuma Gunnison Creek Kayak boat launch and boardwalk improvements, $2 million
- Magnolia Springs restoration project, $878,346
- Dauphin Island Multi-Park access improvement, $1.4 million
- Loxley Youth Soccer Complex, $1 million
- University of South Alabama’s Delta and Coastal Alabama Wildlife, Fisheries, and Carbon Flux Observatory, $1.5 million
- Baldwin County Perdido Bay boardwalk and ADA improvements, $2.5 million
- Lillian sustainable stormwater and parking lot improvements, $396,340
- Mobile County River Delta Marina and Campground, $2 million
- Chickasaw Stormwater Rehabilitation Project Phase 2, $2 million
- Baldwin County Solid Waste Disposal Authority Orange Beach Recycling Convenience Center, $1.5 million
- Gulf Shores Waterway Village Pedestrian Park, $3.6 million
- Renovation of the Daphne Recreation Center, $4 million
- City of Mobile Brookley by the Bay: Southern Activation Zone, $3.5 million
- Bay Minette Nature Park Master Plan and Engineering Design, $1 million
- Mobile Riverfront Phase I amendment, $4 million
- Gulf State Park Campground, $5 million
- Argosy large artificial reef, $2.5 million
- Administration of GOMESA, $398,599
“The GOMESA projects announced today will go a long way to continuing to improve the environment and quality of life in Coastal Alabama,” Blankenship said. “I appreciate the work of the staff at the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and our project partners as they work to leverage GOMESA funded projects with the good work happening with Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill projects and other funding sources.”