Feds give Mississippi more of Cat Island
GULFPORT - The federal government gave Mississippi a chunk of the state’s westernmost barrier island Friday.
Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann accepted the deed to 492 acres of Cat Island. The federal government bought the land for $13.7 million from a unit of BP PLC. The oil company bought the land from the Boddie family in 2011 as part of the cleanup after 2010’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers paid for the land using federal aid approved after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.
The same Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program will now pay to renourish the beach. Hosemann said the renourishment will add 2 million cubic yards of dredged sand to the eastern beach, creating a beach at least 250 feet wide, with elevations of up to 7 feet. The beach work is projected to be finished next year.
Read more: http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2016/12/09/feds-give-mississippi-cat-island/95231816/