[StBernard] Baker named to WRDA conference, confident in passage of Corps construction bill

[Westley Annis]

The News from Congressman Richard H. Baker
Sixth District, Louisiana
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 25, 2007
CONTACT: Michael DiResto, 225-929-7711

Baker named to WRDA conference, confident in passage of Corps construction bill

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Richard Baker, R-Baton Rouge, who serves as ranking member of the Water Resources subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was named today as a House conferee to the committee that will work with the Senate on final language for the Water Resources and Development Act (WRDA), legislation that authorizes funding and work by the Corps.  The bill includes many projects critical to Louisiana and the Baton Rouge area that were championed by Baker.

Highest at stake in the bill – if passed, the first WRDA legislation in seven years – for post-Katrina and Rita Louisiana, is authorization of over $2 billion in funding and Corps work on numerous coastal restoration and hurricane protection projects in the Louisiana Coastal Area, as well as for hurricane and flood protection projects for the Atchafalaya Basin from Morganza to the Gulf.

Also, the bill includes language by Baker that would authorize the Corps for the first time to participate with other agencies to assess and seek solutions for the “hypoxia” problem or the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico impacting Louisiana fishing, which recent reports indicate is growing worse.  The provision would bring the Corps’ unique expertise in wetlands, specifically nutrient filters that mitigate against hypoxia, and waterways that deliver the nutrients, to bear on a unified plan to deal with hypoxia.

"There are so many initiatives in this bill that are important to Louisiana,” said Baker.  “I’m pleased to once again serve on the conference committee, and even more pleased to feel confidence that this long-sought legislation will finally gain final approval."

New Baton Rouge-area projects included in the House-passed bill:

St. Francisville Drainage: Authorizes the Corps to initiate improvements for flood-prone areas of the town.

False River: Expedites Corps work to address the siltation problem harming this vital Pointe Coupee Parish lake. 

Intracoastal Waterway Stream Bank Restoration: Directs the Corps to address severe erosion problems on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway near the Bayou Sorrel Lock in Iberville Parish.

Louisiana and Baton Rouge area projects in the House-passed WRDA bill include:

Louisiana Coastal Area: Authorizes $1.2 billion, which represents the largest coastal restoration project in American history.

Morganza to Gulf: Authorizes the $886.7 million project for the area between the Atchafalaya and Mississippi Rivers from the Morganza Floodway in Pointe Coupee Parish to the Gulf Coast and including the watershed area that makes up most of Acadiana. Project authorizes the Corps to conduct massive, extensive flood and hurricane protection; wetlands, natural resource, wildlife habitat, ecosystem conservation; and to help facilitate recreational, commercial, and sportsman activities.

East Baton Rouge Riverfront:  Expands a 1998 authorization for the Corps’ riverfront work in West Baton Rouge Parish now to include East Baton Rouge Parish and West Feliciana Parish.

University/City Park Lakes: Authorizes the Corps to expedite this dredging and ecosystem restoration project.

East Baton Rouge Parish Flood Control: Authorizes a new, higher level of $178 million. The bill language also changes the federal cost share from 65/35 to 75/25, saving the parish nearly $20 million.

Bayou Sorrel Lock: Authorization to reconstruct the $100 million lock in Iberville Parish, a critical choke point for the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

Bayou Plaquemine: Saves the city of Plaquemine $400,000 toward this $2 million project that provides environmental enhancement of Bayou Plaquemine by increasing the dissolved oxygen and lowering the temperature of bayou waters which are currently experiencing habitat degradation.

Watershed Management programs: Provides technical, planning, and design assistance to non-federal interests for carrying out watershed management, restoration, and development projects at the Amite River Basin and East Atchafalaya River.

Flood mitigation priority areas: Provides technical, planning, and design assistance to non-federal interests for carrying out flood mitigation, restoration, and development projects in Ascension, EBR, Iberville, Livingston, and Pointe Coupee parishes. Here the Corps is authorized to conduct projects that reduce flooding while trying to restore rivers to their natural condition.

EBR, Livingston, and Ascension parish wastewater - Increases authorized funding level from $20 million to $35 million.

Plaquemine sanitary, sewer and wastewater infrastructure improvements:  Authorizes funding level of $7 million.

Hypoxia: Authorizes the Corps to begin working with other federal, state, and other agencies to address the hypoxia situation in the Gulf of Mexico.

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For more news about Congressman Baker, please visit
www.baker.house.gov