[StBernard] Coast and levees

[Westley Annis]

Coast and levees

Three proposed amendments would allot funds, merge boards

By WILL SENTELL
Capitol News Bureau
Published: Sep 17, 2006

First in a series

The management of flood and hurricane protection in southeast Louisiana will
undergo sweeping changes if voters approve a ballot measure designed to
replace parochialism with a regional approach.

The proposal, which triggered lengthy legislative debate earlier this year,
is arguably the most far-reaching of 13 constitutional amendments on the
Sept. 30 ballot.

Voters will also decide whether to change the state's homestead exemption,
toughen qualifications for most state judges, impose new rules on education
spending and other issues.

The outcome of the vote on Constitutional Amendment No. 3 will also play a
huge role in whether southeast Louisiana is rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina,
said Sen. Walter Boasso, R-Arabi and chief sponsor of the plan to revamp
levee oversight in low-lying areas.

Boasso, the president of a container cleaning firm, said better levee
oversight is needed to convince industry to start over in a region that
accounts for 35 percent of the state's economy.

"If we do not restore confidence in businesses, then every single parish is
going to feel the pain," he said.

Boasso's proposal is one of a trio of ballot measures to improve hurricane
protection and bolster Louisiana's eroding coastline.

Levee oversight is currently in the hands of controversial boards named by
the governor with input from lawmakers. Critics contend the panels are
riddled with political appointees who bring inadequate expertise to a
life-and-death issue.

Under the plan, those levee districts would remain intact, but the boards
that oversee them would be abolished.

Instead, two boards would be set up to regulate levee operations in the New
Orleans area and nearby parishes, starting Jan. 1.

An 11-member panel would regulate levees and flood and hurricane protection
in all or parts of seven parishes just east of the Mississippi River. The
other board would oversee storm protection in two parishes west of the
river.

Both levee panels would include engineers, hydrologists and other experts.
The governor would name the members from a list submitted by the American
Society of Civil Engineers, the engineering schools at LSU, University of
New Orleans, Southern University and Tulane University, and other groups.

Both boards would also work under the state Coastal Protection and
Restoration Authority, which is aimed at meeting federal demands that
Louisiana's new approach to storm protection operate under one office.

The authority would act as the local sponsor for the construction, operation
and maintenance of all hurricane, storm damage-reduction and flood-control
projects.

One of the boards would be called the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection
Authority - East Bank. It would include most of the Orleans levee district;
East Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. Tammany and Tangipahoa levee districts and
parts of St. John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes.

The other panel would be called the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection
Authority - West Bank. It would include the West Jefferson levee district
and parts of the Orleans levee district that are west of the Mississippi
River.

Board members would require regions and levee districts that they oversee to
construct and maintain drainage works that deal with tidewater flooding and
hurricane protection.

Panel members and their families would be banned from owning or having an
interest in any firm doing business with the authority. Former elected
officials would be banned from serving on the board for two years after they
leave office. 

The measure on the ballot was a compromise after Boasso's initial bid for a
single levee oversight panel was derailed. The two-board version then
breezed through the House and Senate.

Boasso, who has been traveling the state to promote his plan, said he was
surprised that even voters in north Louisiana - far from most levee problems
- are familiar with the issue.

Opposition is mostly underground, he said.

"We are starting to see bumper stickers that say 'Support Our Local Levee
Boards,'" Boasso said.

Legislative critics of the plan argued that the ballot measure stems largely
from the failings of the Orleans levee board, including a lack of oversight
of levees there before they failed.

Mike McCrossen, president of the board, said his panel opted not to take a
stance on the amendment. Rebutting criticism, McCrossen said comments by
officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows that agency was
responsible for levee failures.

Boasso said the vote on the ballot measure will get national attention and
show the country whether the state is serious about rebuilding.

"We need to not just pass this, but overwhelmingly pass this," he said.

Another proposal, Constitutional Amendment No. 1, is designed to pour more
dollars into restoration of the Louisiana coast, a crucial buffer when
hurricanes come roaring in.

The state is losing about 25 square miles of coastline each year. Repairing
it will cost about $14 billion.

The ballot measure would authorize the use of oil and gas revenue for
coastal conservation, restoration, hurricane protection and structures
affected by wetland losses.

Whether to boost Louisiana's share of oil and gas revenue is a hot topic in
Congress.

The state currently collects about $30 million a year. Last month the Senate
approved a bill that would provide the state with another $20 million per
year over the next 10 years and then $650 million a year thereafter.

A measure approved by the House would provide the state with about $9
billion over the first 10 years and eventually reach $2 billion per year.
Backers hope to work out a legislative compromise this year.

State Sen. Reggie Dupre, D-Houma and legislative sponsor of the plan, said
passage would show Congress that Louisiana plans to use new oil and gas
revenue for coastal improvements, not to set up a legislative slush fund.

"It sends the right message," Dupre said.

Another proposal, Constitutional Amendment No. 2, is also designed to
bolster coastal protection efforts.

If the state sells its remaining share of a national tobacco lawsuit
settlement, the amendment says, 20 percent of the proceeds would go to the
Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund, which would be created under
Dupre's amendment.

States sued tobacco companies in the 1990s over the costs of medical
treatment for smoking-related illnesses. Tobacco companies settled the cases
by agreeing to make annual payments to the states.

Louisiana has already sold 60 percent of its share of the future payments
for a lump sum of $4.6 billion. Selling the other 40 percent could bring the
state an estimated $1 billion or so. That means coastal restoration could
gain about $200 million if the amendment wins voter approval.

Sen. Jay Dardenne, R-Baton Rouge and sponsor of the plan, said he thinks all
three coastal measures will pass.

"And I hope they are going to pass overwhelmingly," Dardenne said. "They are
all part of a very focused plan to deal with this problem."

Story originally published in The Advocate