[StBernard] Governor Blanco celebrates passage of amendments, makes plans for levee boards

[Westley Annis]

Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco celebrates passage of amendments, makes plans for levee boards 


BATON ROUGE - Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco issued the following statement regarding the passage of Constitutional Amendments Numbers 1 - 4 in the September 30 election:

"Saturday, our citizens stood strongly with us in stating that there is no room for politics, cronyism and corruption in hurricane protection and coastal restoration. 

"To move our levee reforms forward, I have taken two steps today. I have sent a letter to Secretary of State Al Ater asking him to begin the critical process of establishing the nominating committee that will recommend professionals for our new regional flood protection authorities. I have also instructed the Division of Administration to conduct a survey of current levee board assets and accounts.

"I thank everyone who joined me in supporting these important constitutional amendments. The Louisiana Legislature, Women of the Storm, Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans, Coast Guardians and other grass roots organizations across our state worked tirelessly to advocate for reform and fiscal responsibility and today we stand victorious in our fight.

"We've done our part; we're ensuring a mechanism is in place to shore up our coast and our future. It is time for Congress to join us and complete this effort. Our coastline is critical to the nation's economy, ecology and energy security.

"A comprehensive coastal protection system requires a significant and sustained commitment of funding. We will continue to play hardball with Washington and the courts to get our fair share as we now dedicate future funds to our coast. I will not stop fighting for Louisiana until we get what is rightfully ours." 

###

To view a copy of Governor Blanco's Letter to Secretary Ater, click here:
www.gov.state.la.us/assets/docs/PDFs/AlAterletter10-02-06.pdf