DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla. – A state-created panel is beginning to award millions that Florida received for damages related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The board for Triumph Gulf Coast last week voted to give preliminary approval to $64.5 million in grants to expand aerospace and aviation operations in northwest Florida. This amount includes $56 million to help Pensacola International Airport in and $8.5 million to expand an aviation park in Santa Rosa County.
The Triumph board in June voted to give $10 million to the Port of Panama City.
In 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, leased by energy giant BP, killed 11 workers and caused a blow-out that began spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Under a settlement, Florida is to receive $2 billion for economic losses.