The Matagorda Bay Mitigation Trust is inviting governmental and nonprofit organizations to apply for funding for environmental mitigation projects, studies and initiatives in the Matagorda Bay and San Antonio Bay ecosystems.
The deadline to submit a proposal is Nov. 30. Projects focused on public education, public access improvement, research and habitat restoration will be prioritized during the selection process, said Steven J. Raabe, who was appointed trustee of the trust in February.
The trust was established as part of a federal Clean Water Act settlement in San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper and S. Diane Wilson, vs. Formosa Plastics Corp., Texas and Formosa Plastics Corp., U.S.A.
Formosa is paying $50 million into the trust over a five-year period for specific environmental mitigation projects, as agreed upon in the settlement. Of that $50 million, $11.25 million will be paid to the trust over a five-year period to redistribute to applicable environmental restoration, research and protection projects.
Raabe said $3.3 million of the $3.7 million the trust was paid for 2020 will be redistributed to projects selected by an awards committee.
“Since this is open call for proposals, we don’t know how many we’re going to receive,” he said. “Some may be small amounts of money and others many be large amounts. We have a process by which we’re going to score those and then we are going award proposals until we run out of money.”
The maximum award for a single project will be $500,000, Raabe said.
Kali Venable is an investigative and environmental reporter for the Victoria Advocate. She can be reached at 361-580-6558 or at [email protected].
