Allison BarnetteThe U.S. Department of the Interior has announced revisions to the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (GOMESA), which provides funding for several coastal states to improve safety, ecology and infrastructure along coastlines.
In an announcement earlier this month, the DOI raised the annual revenue-sharing cap from $500 million to $650 million in formula funds for fiscal years 2025–2034 under the federal budget bill. GOMESA was passed to compensate the oil and gas producing states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas and their coastal political subdivisions for safety, ecological, and infrastructure projects needed because of federal offshore leases.
Disbursements announced March 27, 2025, prior to the new spending caps, were $353.6 million after sequestration, which was about a 5.7% reduction.
The largest share, $3.05 million, went to Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish, which is Louisiana’s southernmost tip and extends near a cluster of federal lease blocks with accompanying pipelines and processing facilities. The region is also very vulnerable to hurricanes, furthering the demand for infrastructure and ecological considerations. Under the new cap, Plaquemines is projected to receive $5.28 million for its resilience efforts. Due to its proximity and potential for damage, the parish continues to see maximum disbursements.
Texas does not trail far behind Louisiana, receiving a big bump from a $95.5 million share in 2025 to a projected share after sequestration of $165 million.
The second largest disbursement, $3.78 million after sequestration, went to Harris County, TX, home to the Port of Houston. Under the new guidelines, Harris County is projected to receive $6.53 million. Some of the improvements for Harris County include flood control and stormwater management upgrades to levees, pump stations, and drainage systems. Plans are also in place for dredging and channel widening at the Port of Houston to keep shipping lanes safe and competitive and wetland restoration along Buffalo Bayou and coastal prairies to absorb storm surge and hurricane evacuation route upgrades.
Texas’ Galveston County is projected to progress from $1.68 million to $2.9 million with the amendment. The funding would be used to rebuild beaches and dunes in Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula to protect property and tourism, upgrade and maintain the Galveston Seawall and coastal floodgates, rehabilitate the marsh and estuary in West Bay and Galveston Bay, and install sand trapping groins, breakwaters or geotubes.
Matagorda County, with $1.47 million awarded this year and $2.54 million projected, would stabilize the shoreline with riprap, vegetated buffers and bulkheads. The port would be enhanced with docks, piers and shipping facilities, a new marshland would be established as a buffer to storms, and drainage projects to expand culverts and pumps would promote reduced flooding.
It should be noted that all three counties, along with the 15 other Texas counties receiving funds, could also partner with state agencies or the Army Corps of Engineers to leverage these GOMESA funds with federal or state matching dollars, turning a $2 million to $6 million allocation into an over $10 million project value.
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