Terrebonne Levee System to Get $379 Million in Federal Money

HOUMA, La. (AP)–A levee system that protects Terrebonne and parts of Lafourche from Gulf of Mexico hurricanes will receive $379 million in federal money from the infrastructure bill passed by Congress, officials said Wednesday.

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said the money is part of a $643.4 million allocation the Army Corps of Engineers will use for 21 coastal, waterway and flood-protection projects in Louisiana.

The money is by far the largest federal allocation for a project three decades in the making. So far, roughly $600 million in state and local tax money has been spent to build the 98-mile system of levees, locks and floodgates.

“Louisiana communities have waited years, sometimes decades, to see progress on Army Corps projects,” Cassidy, a lead author of the bipartisan bill, said in a news release. “This funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Package is crucial to protect our state against future hurricanes and floods. (I’m) looking forward to the additional ways the bipartisan infrastructure bill will benefit our state.”

Among other Louisiana projects in the infrastructure bill:

• $125 million for hurricane-protection work in southwest Louisiana.
• $53 million for flood-protection work in the Atchafalaya Basin, including dredging the river and some of its tributaries to improve navigation and drainage.

In addition, the corps will allocate more than $2 billion in hurricane-protection and related work in Louisiana as part of a supplemental government funding bill Congress passed in September. The money was intended to repair damage from recent hurricanes, including Ida, and upgrade storm protection across south Louisiana.

Among projects in that bill:

• $783 million for the New Orleans-to-Venice hurricane-protection system in Plaquemines Parish.
• $450 million for Lake Pontchartrain levee improvements.
• $162.6 million for the Atchafalaya Basin.
• $125 million for the Comite Diversion Canal near Baton Rouge, which the Army Corps said will be completed by the end of this year.

“This disaster aid is critical in our effort to rebuild after Hurricane Ida and prevent damage from future storms,” Cassidy said. “There is more to do. I will continue to work for additional resources to help communities fully recover.”

U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, said in an interview Wednesday that the allocations are welcome but the news is “bittersweet.”

Graves said he had helped get $500 million included in the supplemental hurricane bill last fall for Morganza. But the Biden administration’s Office of Management and Budget moved that money to other projects, including some Graves said are unrelated to the hurricane-protection work Congress intended the measure to address.

Instead, the Morganza money is now coming through the infrastructure bill, signed into law by President Joe Biden in November. Among Louisiana’s six members of Congress, only Cassidy and Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, supported the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. The others, including Graves and Houma-Thibodaux’s other congressman, Steve Scalise, R-Metairie, voted with most Republicans against.

Among criticisms, Louisiana GOP representatives argued the bill failed to dedicate enough money to traditional infrastructure like roads and bridges.

Graves said Wednesday that he would “triple down” on his opposition to the Biden-backed bill, adding that the measure shortchanged Louisiana, with less than 2% of its total spending going to the state.

The more than $500 million allocation for Morganza that had been included in the supplmental bill, he said, would not have required matching money from state and local agencies. But the infrastructure bill allocation requires a 35% combined match.

Graves said the final list of projects in the supplemental bill also raises concerns.

“While it is exciting to see some of these projects funded, it is also important to note some gaping holes,” Graves said in a news release. “The Baton Rouge area flood-control project failed to receive the additional funds needed. There is no question that $378 million for the Morganza-to-the-Gulf project is substantial, but it is far short of what Congress intended. Dredging funds for the Houma Navigation Canal, Bayou Lafourche and others are left out.

“This appears to confirm our fears about how the Biden administration indicated in budget documents they would discriminate against energy-producing areas. This is just wrong and we will continue to oppose these uninformed policies and fight for what is right.”

However, in a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Cassidy noted that he is continuing to push for more money for Louisiana projects.

“There are still other opportunities and other pots of money we can expect to receive funding from for projects listed today and for others,” Cassidy said.

For instance, he said, the corps’ disaster relief plan includes $410 million for work that has not yet been announced. Some of that money could be used for dredging projects throughout south Louisiana.

And the infrastructure bill includes an additional $2.2 billion for corps coastal protection projects to be available in future years.

“So, it’s a great start,” Cassidy said.