Panama City finished construction on a new stormwater management facility Friday as part of a restoration project put forth by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The project comes as the result of the Deepwater Horizon settlement.
The Florida DEP is overseeing funds for multiple restoration projects along the Panhandle. One of those is a new $785,000 stormwater management facility in Panama City. Panama City public works director, Neil Fravell, says the city planned the project more than two years ago, but it was fast-tracked due to a grant from the Deepwater Horizon settlement.
“We were fortunate to get this DEP grant, which came from the settlement of a portion of the Deepwater Horizon event and they moved it up on our schedule and allowed it to be completed early," says Fravell.
The state received roughly $3.25 billion from the settlement, and $134 million of it will be going towards restoration projects in areas affected by the 2010 oil spill.
