[StBernard] Landrieu slams Corps over delays to Morganza-to-the-Gulf project

[Westley Annis]

Landrieu slams Corps over delays to Morganza-to-the-Gulf project

03:23 PM CDT on Monday, April 21, 2008

Raymond Legendre / Houma Courier 

RACELAND -- In what is rapidly becoming her battle cry, U.S. Sen. Mary
Landrieu slammed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Saturday afternoon for
needlessly delaying the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane-protection project,
making south Louisiana more vulnerable should a major hurricane strike. 

Congress authorized the massive hurricane-protection system, which would
protect Terrebonne Parish and parts of Lafourche Parish from a Category 3
hurricane, in November with the passage of the Water Resources and
Development Act. 


Since then, the project has stalled while the corps attempts to secure a
second round of authorization. 


"I believe the authorization already on the books is enough to move
forward," Landrieu, D-La., said during a brief appearance at the Raceland
Recreation Center. "We should not wait for the next WRDA bill. I feel like
the current authorization is sufficient." 


Morganza is a series of levees and floodgates that are designed to protect
local communities from storms. 


Earlier this year, the corps announced the system far exceeded the original
$886 million estimate and requires a re-evaluation to form a new price tag. 


Corps officials will then determine if the higher cost is justified. 

The fact Morganza would cost more than originally thought is no reason to
delay the project, Landrieu said. 


"The corps continues to pull one excuse out of the hat after another and
we're tired of it," Landrieu said, adding that if she has her way five years
from now the corps will not resemble its current incarnation. 


"They should have started this project 20 years ago," she said. "The old
approach was too slow and frankly too frustrating." 


Morganza is far from the only levee system on Landrieu's mind, though it is
the largest. 


Representatives from the corps recently told Lafourche Parish officials that
the South Lafourche levee system is not high enough to keep the parish out
of a special flood-hazard zone when updated FEMA flood-insurance-rate maps
are released to the public later this month. 


If the levee loses certification, new homes in south Lafourche might have to
be built as high as 12 or 15 feet off the ground and residents'
flood-insurance costs could skyrocket. 


Difficulty receiving levee certification is not something unique to south
Louisiana, Landrieu said, noting that in her time in the U.S. Senate she has
seen the problem everywhere across the country where there are levees. 


"If you look at coastal Louisiana, there are pieces of levees that are
federally authorized, but there is a big gap in those that aren't," Landrieu
said. "We are developing a comprehensive plan where all levees are
authorized under new federal-state partnership. South Lafourche levees are a
top priority in that plan." 


A study unveiled Thursday from Louisiana's top economists showed that a
three-week closure to Port Fourchon, a Gulf of Mexico oil hub, would cost
77,000 jobs and a $10 billion loss. It would also cause a 22-cent hike in
gas prices nationally. 


"The more we can quantify, with hard data, the implications of the impact to
the port, the better it is," Landrieu said. "Still, it's a long, tedious,
frustrating process educating the rest of the country about (the port's
impact)." 


Local officials have long sought hundreds of millions of federal dollars to
upgrade La. 1, the only road to and from the port. They say the road is
sinking into the marshes that surrounds it. 


Landrieu said it is now the congressional delegation's job to use the
study's findings to make legislators on Capital Hill understand how
important Port Fourchon is to the country's economy. 

The Raceland visit was part of a one-day tour of the area that also included
stops in LaPlace and Napoleonville.