[StBernard] Rep. Melancon Announces Over $46 Million in Federal Grants for Jefferson, Ascension, & St. Bernard Parishes

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Wed Sep 12 22:47:19 EDT 2007


WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA) announced today that Jefferson Parish, Ascension Parish and St. Bernard Parish will receive a total of $46,117,310 in federal disaster aid grants from the from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).



“Federal grants like these will help St. Bernard and other coastal parishes cover the cost of cleaning up the extensive damage Hurricanes Katrina and Rita left in their wake,” said Rep. Melancon. “Because of legislation we passed in Congress earlier this year, these south Louisiana communities will be able to use federal grants to rebuild starting with a fresh foundation, without being saddled with the burden of first coming up with the local cost share that their struggling tax bases can’t support. I am pleased to announce these grants today and will continue to work in Congress to make the federal government a better partner in south Louisiana’s recovery.”



The following grants were announced today:



* St. Bernard Parish will be reimbursed $40,853,248 for debris removal and hazardous waste disposal following Hurricane Katrina. Today’s revised grant announcement is the fourth version of this reimbursement and has been adjusted to reflect actual contract prices and average regional rates, which were reviewed and adjusted by FEMA specialists and deemed reasonable. The reimbursement has also been increased to cover 100% of the project’s cost, waiving the 10% cost share from the local government, as mandated by legislation Rep. Melancon pushed for and Congress passed earlier this year.

This grant will reimburse the parish for the cost of demolition and debris removal for 5,399 homes in St. Bernard Parish that were damaged beyond repair. A storm surge and flooding from Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage throughout St. Bernard Parish. Approximately 12,000 of the 27,000 homes within the parish were determined to be damaged beyond repair. Because these damaged homes represented a threat to public safety, they were slated for demolition by the parish. A total of approximately 1.5 million cubic yards of debris, including hazardous materials such as Freon and asbestos, have been removed. This grant will also pay for the hauling of waste, utility disconnections, reduction, and site management in St. Bernard. Demolitions covered by this grant occurred between January 1, 2007, and August 31, 2007, and will create an estimated 1.5 million cubic yards (CY) of debris.



· Jefferson Parish will receive $4,205,486 to elevate 30 homes that have repeatedly flooded following storms. The proposed project will elevate 30 homes that have that have each received multiple NFIP flood insurance claims and are on the severe repetitive loss list. The structures will be raised to the Base Flood Elevation. The homes were chosen based on their rankings for flood risk and storm surge risk, in the context of relative risk as summarized by the State of Louisiana Hazard Mitigation Plan. Elevating these 30 structures will significantly reduce future potential for those buildings to sustain flood damage, especially repetitive flood damage. Elevation will also result in cost savings for the federal National Flood Insurance Program. Alternative mitigation actions were considered but elevation was determined to be the most cost effective and beneficial mitigation action. The grant announced today will cover 75% of the projected costs while 25% will be paid for by the local government.



· $1,058,576 for Flood Mitigation in Ascension Parish. This grant will fund a proposed project in Ascension parish to acquire five residential properties, including three severe repetitive loss properties, located in the cities of Prairieville, St. Amant and Gonzales, which are part of the East Ascension Consolidated Gravity Drainage District. Acquiring the proposed properties will remove flood-prone structures from the floodplain, eliminating damages and health and safety risk for those homeowners and any potential rescuers. Once these properties are acquired the land will be retained by the District as open, green space. The home owners have expressed an interest in selling their properties to the Parish and have signed voluntary participation forms. The grant announced today will cover 75% of the projected costs while 25% will be paid for by the local government.



“In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the people of Louisiana are committed to rebuilding stronger and higher, putting in place preventative measures to protect us in the future,” said Rep. Melancon. “We can’t stop the hurricanes, but we can work to protect ourselves from the damage they cause in our communities. I support category five hurricane protection for all of south Louisiana, and I won’t stop fighting in Congress until we have the defenses we deserve.”



Rep. Melancon has worked in Congress to further reduce the financial burden on local governments in south Louisiana still struggling to recover from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Most recently, he worked with the Louisiana delegation and Congressional leadership to waive the 10 percent local government cost share requirement for disaster recovery projects and allow federal Community Disaster Loans to be forgiven for localities that can not afford to repay them.



Under the federal Robert T. Stafford Act, public assistance projects like those announced today required a 10 percent cost share from local governments upfront before the remaining 90 percent in federal grant money can be used. Many of the estimated 23,000 disaster recovery projects in Louisiana had been put on hold because local governments did not have the resources to provide the match. The local match requirement has been waived 32 times since 1985 when per capita rebuilding costs have been deemed excessive, but had not yet been waived for Katrina and Rita.



Rep. Melancon worked with House leadership to include the waiver of the 10% match in the Iraq/Katrina Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President at the end of May. This bill provides a total of $6.419 billion in hurricane recovery and relief funding for Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states.



In addition, Rep. Melancon successfully lobbied House leadership to include language in the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill making Katrina- and Rita-affected communities eligible for forgiveness of their Community Disaster Loans. An estimated $1 billion in CDLs were provided by the federal government to hurricane-affected local governments immediately following Katrina and Rita to help them continue daily operations, such as payroll for law enforcement and emergency responders. Many local governments do not have the ability to repay this massive debt, as their tax bases were devastated by the storms. Rep. Melancon argued that, in the past, CDLs have been forgiven following many other major disasters, including Hurricane Andrew and the September 11th terrorist attacks. With the passage of the Supplemental, Katrina and Rita CDLs became eligible for forgiveness, taking a huge financial burden off of local governments in south Louisiana.



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