Office of Coastal Management
Corps of Engineers and state of Louisiana sign historic coastal study agreement for Coast 2050 projects
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The New Orleans District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources today held an historic signing ceremony in Baton Rouge to launch a major coastal wetlands study. With the signing of the Coast 2050 Feasibility Cost Share agreement, the agencies this month will initiate a $6 million feasibility study of the Barataria Basin. New Orleans District Engineer Col. Thomas Julich and DNR Secretary Jack Caldwell signed the cost share agreement to fund the study which requires that each agency provide about $3 million over the next two years. “This is potentially the largest and most ambitious effort to date by the Corps of Engineers as it relates to coastal restoration,” said Julich. “We can relate this to the massive effort to build the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project after the 1927 flood.” Caldwell said the basin study will lay the foundation for pursuing funding sources other than the Breaux Act. “We will be preparing ready-to-go projects so that we can take advantage of potential funding sources such as the Water Resources Development Act and possibly CARA monies (offshore oil and gas royalty revenues) if current federal legislation passes this year,” Caldwell said. The Barataria Basin was selected as the first area for study and action because it is the most critical, losing about 11 square miles annually. Engineering and environmental analyses from the study are expected to yield a basis for construction of viable projects. The study will focus on marsh creation, barrier island restoration and river diversion strategies. When completed, the study could result in restoration projects totaling as much as $3.5 billion within that highly impacted coastal basin. Other coastal feasibility studies are planned in the future. Since 1991, coastal restoration projects to restore and protect the state’s fragile coast have been accomplished through the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (or the Breaux Act). These projects and other initiatives such as the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program have increased local and national environmental awareness of the state’s coastal land losses. Over the years, Breaux Act funding to Louisiana has amounted to nearly $40 million annually. Federal and state officials overseeing the effort estimate that an additional $14 billion in funding will be needed to fully implement the Coast 2050 strategy designed to restore a collapsing coastal ecosystem. Coast 2050 goals emphasize ecosystem-wide approaches to sustaining coastal Louisiana. The signing took place in the Governor’s Press Conference Room at the State Capitol. Coastal officials from across the state, legislators, environmentalists and activists attended the ceremony. |
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