[StBernard] Landrieu Announces $18M For Barataria Land Bridge Project

[Westley Annis]

Landrieu Announces $18M for Barataria Land Bridge Project
Award will enhance creation of 752 acres of marshland in Jefferson Parish.

 

WASHINGTON - United States Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., today announced an
$18 million Minerals Management Services (MMS) grant to Louisiana for the
Barataria Land Bridge Project, which will enhance the creation and
nourishment of 752 acres of marshland in Jefferson Parish. By enabling
sediment building and inhibiting interior deterioration from rising
sea-levels and excessive tidal exchange, the project will protect existing
marshland and create new marshland. The current area consists of mostly
shallow, open water with some broken marsh, and has demonstrated annual land
loss. Sen. Landrieu secured the funding for this project in the Coastal
Impact Assistance Program (CIAP), which was included in the Energy Policy
Act of 2005. 

"The protection of existing marshland and the addition of new marsh is
critically important to guarding our natural habitats and providing storm
surge protection," Sen. Landrieu said. "As we work to restore our eroding
coastline in Louisiana, projects like these are crucial to our success." 

In 2005, Sen. Landrieu worked to design CIAP, a project that distributes
$250 million annually for 2007 through 2010 to six eligible Outer
Continental Shelf oil and gas producing states. Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska,
California, Mississippi and Texas receive these funds to help minimize the
effects of oil and gas production in Outer Continental Shelf. The funding
includes $127.5 million to Louisiana for fiscal years 2007 and 2008,
totaling $255 million. Additional allocations for the six-state total will
be made for years 2009 and 2010.

Last week, Sen. Landrieu announced a $869,594 MMS grant for the Bayou
Lamoque Floodgate Removal project, which will remove existing floodgates and
allow water to flow unimpeded into Bayou Lamoque and surrounding marshes,
thereby creating 620 acres of new marsh over the next 20 years. In April, an
$8.8 million MMS grant was awarded to Louisiana for improvements to a
five-mile stretch of LA 1 to be complete by 2011. The road is incredibly
vulnerable to coastal erosion and is the only artery connecting America's
oil and gas assets to the mainland. 

 

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