Today, Governor Bobby Jindal announced that his 2012 capital outlay bill, filed today at the Capital in Baton Rouge, includes $10 million in new funding for the Morganza-to-the-Gulf project to provide important hurricane and flood protection for the Terrebonne-Lafourche region.
Specifically, the capital outlay bill includes $6.33 million in Priority 2 funding and $3.67 million in Priority 5 funding. This new funding will go towards the construction of floodgates on Bayou Little Calliou and other protection features.
Governor Jindal said, “We continue to lean forward and aggressively invest in the protection of this area, even ahead of the federal government. This region deserves at least a 100-year protection system. The federal government has delayed this project for 20 years, but we are not waiting on them. We are moving forward with our own state investment.
“We’ve already invested approximately $250 million in state, levee district and parish funds for hurricane and flood protection in Terrebonne Parish and western Lafourche Parish related to the Morganza-to-the-Gulf project. Today, we’re taking yet another step to protect this region by including $10 million in new capital outlay funds for the Morganza-to-the-Gulf project. This new funding will allow us to continue to improve protection to this region by constructing floodgates on Bayou Little Calliou and other protection features.”
Once approved by the Legislature, this new $10 million in funding will bring the total investment from the state, levee district and parish for hurricane and flood protection to approximately $260 million.
The Governor highlighted substantial progress already made using the $250 million invested in hurricane and flood protection projects in the region. The Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District will award a contract for the floodgate on the Houma Navigation Canal later today, which will feature stop hurricane storm surge from coming up the Houma Navigation Canal and prevent the further intrusion of saltwater.
Since January 2008, over $125 million of State/Local Morganza Projects have been built or are currently under contract, these include:
o $35 million: 9.5 miles of levees along the H-2, H-3 and J-1 segments
o $15 million: Bush Canal Floodgate
o $11.5 million: Placid Canal Floodgate
o $15 million: environmental mitigation
o $50 million: Houma Navigation Canal (HNC) floodgate structures
This year, the state will issue an additional $55 million in construction contracts for:
o 200ft wide Bayou Grand Calliou (Ca-YOU) Floodgate
o Five miles of levees on Reaches F and G.
Over $180 million of Morganza contracts will be completed or under construction by January 2012. This $180 million is all state and local funding with no federal construction funds for a federal project that began nearly 20 years ago. Moving forward, the state, Terrebonne Parish, Lafourche Parish and the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District are investing tens of millions of hurricane recovery dollars and other funding to perform planning, regulatory, engineering compliance, design and construction of levees and environmental structures on Reaches E through L.
Sen. Chabert said, “For too long, the federal government has skirted its obligations to make the Terrebonne-Lafourche area safer from the storm surges spawned from storms in the Gulf. Governor Jindal’s commitment to fund the Morganza to the Gulf project is the most important thing we can do to protect our communities from storms that threaten our way of life and I urge my colleagues in the Legislature to move forward in fully funding the Governor’s recommendations so we take a big step in protecting our communities.”
Rep. Dove said, “I want to applaud the Governor for taking a great stand in supporting our coastal communities. To protect our families, we need a comprehensive storm protection system that will guarantee the safety of our citizens – and the Governor’s recommended capital outlay funding will be a big step in beginning that process. While folks in DC continue to drag their feet, I’m proud that we as a state are making our storm protection systems a real priority.”
Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet said, “To date, every time this project has been debated by the feds, it has been approved, yet we still haven’t seen any movement on the ground. It’s become apparent that once again we’ll need to take the lead in protecting our homes and families – and that’s why it’s so important the Legislature work to approve Governor Jindal’s recommendations so we can begin protecting our coastal communities.”
Berwick Duval, President of the Morganza Action Coalition said, “The Morganza Action Coalition and the residents of the Terrebonne-Lafourche community applaud the Governor for taking such significant action when there are so many competing demands upon the state’s budget. We remain committed to holding the Federal government’s feet to the fire in order to complete this essential restoration and protection project. We are grateful for the Governor’s leadership and hope the Legislature moves quickly so that work can continue while we wait for our Federal partner to help build Morganza to the Gulf of Mexico – a vital project which will protect our communities.”
