Special to The News

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Executive Director Toby Baker will host three meetings in December, including two next week, to receive input from the public on priorities for available RESTORE funding, which benefits coastal areas of Texas and other states along the Gulf of Mexico.

The RESTORE funds come from penalties assessed for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The meetings will be on priorities for the Bucket 2 category that has about $350 million total available to be spread out among the five impacted Gulf Coast states.

The meetings will take place in Brownsville on Dec. 3, Corpus Christi on Dec. 4, and Galveston on Dec. 10.

Baker, who is Gov. Greg Abbott’s appointee to the federal RESTORE Council for Texas, says, “The significant focus of these meetings is to receive input from the public to assist in the development of priorities that address the ecosystem restoration needs and concerns of the Texas coastal area and to secure federal grant funds for the community.”

This input will assist Baker’s collaborations with his RESTORE Council colleagues, who are tasked with the distribution of federal grant funds under the RESTORE Act. According to Baker, the intent of this initial series of public meetings is “to gather information to inform the development of a priority framework document for the Gulf Coast.”

A draft of the framework document will be published by the RESTORE Council for public comment in early spring 2019.

Baker says, “The framework document will offer guidance for later discussions on the types of projects that could be considered for funding under the Council-Selected component of the RESTORE Act, referred to as Bucket 2.”

To receive updates on RESTORE program activities, including these meetings and the public meetings to be scheduled in the spring, visit theRESTORE website. Also, questions can be submitted through the website using the “contact us” button.

The meetings will take place at:

• Brownsville, Dec. 3
  6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
  One West University Blvd.
  University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
  Salon Cassia
• Corpus Christ, Dec. 4
  6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
  6300 Ocean Drive
  Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
  Anchor Ballroom A of the University Center
• Galveston, Dec. 10
  6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
  200 Seawolf Parkway
  Texas A&M University-Galveston
  Room 100 (Auditorium)
  Classroom Laboratory Building (Building 3700)