Green Articles
More coastal restoration projects recommended
But money for them is nowhere in sight
By Mark Schleifstein : Times-Picayune : February 25, 2008
New Orleans area coastal restoration officials recommended 27 restoration projects to a federal-state task force on Thursday, knowing there's little chance most of them will be added to the already over-burdened Breaux Act restoration program.
The projects unveiled Thursday would cost more than $500 million to build, while Army Corps of Engineers officials estimate the program doesn't even have enough money to pay for construction of already-approved projects that are ready for construction this year.
The Breaux Act program, authorized through 2019, is estimated to receive a total of $2.4 billion in federal and state money by its end. The task force has approved 17 lists of projects, of which 143 are still active, including 88 that are complete or under construction. Another 55 are under design or awaiting construction money.
If all projects are completed, officials estimate they would represent the creation, protection or restoration of about 120,000 acres of wetlands or coastline over their 20-year lifetimes.
Earlier this month, however, the task force found itself forced to approve only five of 10 projects ready to begin construction because only $74 million was still available. During fiscal year 2009, 16 projects costing $350 million will be ready for construction, but only $84.2 million will be available.
But the task force still plans to study the 27 projects on this side of the state and a similar number in western Louisiana and add four of them to the program in January 2009. The projects then undergo more comprehensive investigations and design work and may eventually be built if more money becomes available.
Corps and state officials hope that as other federal or state restoration programs are financed over the next few years, they may adopt some Breaux Act projects. The state expects to use future federal offshore oil dollars to underwrite its own restoration master plan, and Congress is expected to finance the Louisiana Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration program, approved by Congress late last year.
Some projects may be shifted to the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Study, which will include restoration and levee projects to protect the coast from major hurricanes, when it is submitted to Congress this fall.
The projects submitted Thursday include several proposals to use pipelines to move sediment dredged from the Mississippi River to build new wetlands in areas of open water. Others would build siphons through levees to pour freshwater and sediment from the river into nearby wetlands.
Still others call for rebuilding the shorelines of Chenier Ronquille Barrier Island in Plaquemines Parish, Elmer's Island in southern Jefferson Parish, and parts of the Chandeleur and Breton islands off St. Bernard Parish.
Three different proposals would build marsh in open water in the LaBranche wetlands in St. Charles Parish, including one using treated wastewater from the East Bank Jefferson Parish sewage treatment plant. Marsh restoration also is recommended along the lakeshore of Big Branch National Wildlife Refuge in St. Tammany Parish.
A combination of new marsh and rock protection of shoreline is proposed for several "land bridge" locations north of Barataria Bay in Jefferson and in easternmost New Orleans near Lake Catherine.
Representatives of coastal parishes will vote March 5 on which projects to add to the list. A technical committee will recommend cutting the candidates to 10 on April 16, and finalize that recommendation in a December meeting, following November public hearings.
The task force will select as many as four projects from the shortened list in January 2009.