[StBernard] Landrieu Presses Corps on Morganza Delays

[Westley Annis]

Landrieu Presses Corps on Morganza Delays

 

WASHINGTON - United States Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., today questioned
the Army Corps of Engineers' failure to begin the Morganza to the Gulf
hurricane protection project despite being authorized by Congress last
November.

"The Army Corps of Engineers' delay tactics on Morganza to the Gulf are
threatening the people of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes who deserve and
desperately need this hurricane protection system," Sen. Landrieu said. "As
another hurricane season approaches, I am disappointed that the Corps has
postponed this necessary work, making Louisiana residents more vulnerable to
hurricanes rising in the Gulf."

During a Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee
hearing on the Corps' budget today, Sen. Landrieu questioned Assistant
Secretary of the Army John Paul Woodley Jr. and the Corps Chief of Engineers
Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp. Previously, the Corps has said that the
Morganza project would far exceed the $886 million that Congress authorized,
thus requiring an immediate "re-evaluation" instead of construction. 

"The Corps gave Congress its estimate of how much Morganza would cost, and
Congress authorized that amount," Sen. Landrieu told the Corps leadership.
"Now it is reneging on its promise to the people of Terrebonne and Lafourche
parishes whom the Corps is supposed to protect. I assure you that I will not
stop talking about Morganza and pushing you to begin turning dirt turning on
this project." 

Morganza to the Gulf is a series of levees, locks and other systems through
Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes that will, upon their completion, serve as
protection for more than 120,000 people and 1,700 square miles of land
against storm surges like those caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Sen.
Landrieu has long fought for funding for the project, and Congress
authorized $886 million for Morganza to the Gulf last November in the water
resources bill.

This is not the Corps' first bureaucratic delay of Morganza to the Gulf. The
project had been previously authorized by the 2000 water resources bill,
pending a Corps report. The Corps failure to deliver that study on time
delayed the authorization until last year.