Bayou Chene project shortchanged? Local lawmakers: Fund structure or get nothing for coastal work

Local legislators say they will oppose funding any of the state’s coastal restoration projects if the Bayou Chene Flood Control and Diversion Project doesn’t get the funding initially promised to fund the project.
They made the announcement during a meeting Monday in Morgan City to discuss a project to divert freshwater from the Atchafalaya River to restore Terrebonne Parish’s wetlands.
Officials with the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and Restore or Retreat, a nonprofit based in Thibodaux, held a stakeholders meeting to discuss the Increase Atchafalaya into Terrebonne restoration project. The meeting took place at the Port of Morgan City’s Government and Operations Center.
The diversion is a restoration project designed to increase freshwater flow from the Atchafalaya River to the Terrebonne Parish marshes to help prevent further coastal land loss. The project should save 13,000 acres to 18,000 acres over a 50-year period, said Project Manager Austin Feldbaum.
Tentative plans for the project involve a diversion on the south side of the Bayou Boeuf lock. Officials chose the south of the Bayou Boeuf lock because they couldn’t achieve the desired flow on the north side, Feldbaum said.
Local officials expressed frustration that the Bayou Chene Flood Control and Diversion Project isn’t being considered to be included in the Atchafalaya diversion project.
The Bayou Chene project involves installing a permanent flood gate on Bayou Chene in Amelia. That gate could be closed when the Atchafalaya River reaches 7 feet and is projected to continue rising to protect parts of up to six parishes from flooding, including St. Mary, Terrebonne, lower St. Martin, Assumption, Lafourche and Iberville.
Area leaders spoke out against the cut in funding that the Bayou Chene project received from CPRA. Officials were initially told they would receive $80 million through the Restore Act to fully fund the Bayou Chene project, but now only $40 million is available to use.
St. Mary legislators made clear their disapproval of the cut in funding.
“If the Bayou Chene is not funded,” said state Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, “either with a flood gate or a sector gate, not only will I oppose this project (Atchafalaya diversion), I will oppose the entire master plan.”
Allain serves on the senate Natural Resources Committee.
Allain told CPRA officials “good luck” trying to get the plan out of the Natural Resources Committee “much less getting it out of the floor of the Senate.”
State leaders update Louisiana’s coastal master plan of projects every five years, and 2017 will be the next update.
Allain said he’s willing to work with CPRA leaders, “but you’re just not going to shut down this project that was promised to us to protect the people that are behind that (structure).”
State Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, echoed Allain’s sentiment saying he intends to oppose the Atchafalaya diversion and state coastal master plan in the Legislature if the Bayou Chene project isn’t funded.
“There needs to be a closure” on Bayou Chene if the Atchafalaya diversion is going to work properly, said Bill Hidalgo, CPRA board member and St. Mary Levee District Commission president.
“I’m upset,” Hidalgo said. “I’m upset because we’re not getting money for the Bayou Chene. I’m upset you all are not seeing this as a potential to help us to maybe put a flood control gate … and allow water to flow through and then close it off.”
Port of Morgan City Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade said a gate on the Bayou Chene to assist the Atchafalaya diversion could help build land much faster.
Coastal protection leaders expect the Atchafalaya project to cost nearly $700 million. Fines paid in connection with the BP oil spill are paying for the project through money allocated to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, said Simone Maloz, executive director of Restore or Retreat.
Those fines are only allowed to be used for river diversions and to build barrier islands, Maloz said.
Port officials also asked coastal officials to consider how the diver-sion project will affect businesses that use the area’s waterways and to consult with industry in the region.
CPRA officials present at the meeting said they would present local leaders concerns to CPRA leaders.
Feldbaum said CPRA officials are working to get answers to “all of the technical details” related to the Atchafalaya diversion.
“This is a complicated project,” Feldbaum said. “It’s going to be a massive structure.”
The diversion control structure will require the realigning of the federal levee and rerouting of the Avoca Island road levee to the south side of the river channel, he said.
The Atchafalaya diversion project is just finishing the 15 percent design phase. Feldbaum expects the design and permit process will take at least another four years. Construction of the diversion is roughly estimated to finish in 2026.