Coastal plan includes marsh project, not Bayou Chene

A draft of the state’s coastal master plan released Tuesday includes a marsh creation project that Port of Morgan City officials hope to expedite, while omission of the Bayou Chene flood protection project has St. Mary Levee District leaders fighting for that project’s inclusion.
Louisiana’s 2017 Draft Coastal Master Plan “sets an ambitious path to respond to the loss of our coastal land and the threats from storm surge events,” according to a Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority news release.
The master plan is a list of projects that build or maintain land and reduce risk to Louisiana’s communities.
State officials produce a new coastal master plan every five years, and the last one was done in 2012.
The plan recommends 120 projects that build or maintain over 800 square miles of land and reduce expected damage more than $150 billion over the next 50 years, and are expected to pay for themselves three times over the course of implementing the plan, the release stated.
One local long-term project is the Point Au Fer Island Marsh Creation, which would create about 13,400 acres of marsh over a 20-year period and “restore degraded marsh” on the island located along the Terrebonne Parish coast.
A 10-mile pipeline would be used to transport sediment to the island that also acts as a buffer to hurricanes and storms for St. Mary Parish, Port of Morgan City Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade said.
The marsh creation project would be beneficial for the Port of Morgan City in that officials could have a place to dispose of material dredged out of the Atchafalaya River, while also using the sediment to help restore Terrebonne’s coast.
Its implementation is estimated to be 31 years to 50 years away at a cost of $662 million.
Port leaders are pushing to get the Point Au Fer project moved up to the one-year to 10-year implementation period, Wade said.
“At least it’s in there,” Wade said of the project’s inclusion in the master plan.
The Bayou Chene Flood Control and Diversion Project was included in the 2012 state coastal master plan but was left out of the 2017 master plan. That project includes installing a permanent flood gate in Bayou Chene in Amelia that can be closed and protect up to six parishes from flooding due to high water in the Atchafalaya River.
Levee district officials are trying to get the roughly $80 million Bayou Chene project put back in the coastal master plan, St. Mary Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte said. The barge floodgate would be surrounded by steel sheet pilings and rock.
Bren Haase, CPRA chief of planning and research, said the Bayou Chene project still has a chance to be included in the final 2017 plan. However, it was left of the draft because the project is aimed at reducing riverine flooding as opposed to storm surge flooding, which is a criterium officials used to decide whether to include projects in the draft plan, Haase said.
Among the shorter term projects related to St. Mary is one to increase Atchafalaya flow to Terrebonne and construct a bypass structure at the Bayou Boeuf Lock from the Atchafalaya River to Terrebonne marshes. The project implementation time frame is one to 10 years at a cost of $398 million.
Another longer term project is in the master plan to improve Amelia’s levees. The project entails constructing a levee along the Intracoastal Waterway between Lake Palourde and the Bayou Boeuf Lock near Amelia. The project’s purpose is to provide 100-year storm surge protection in the Amelia area, Matte said.
Project features include about 46,400 feet of earthen levee, about 13,400 feet of T-wall, four 40-foot roller gates, a 250-foot barge gate, a 110-foot barge gate, and a pump station. It will take up to 30 years until it becomes a reality at a cost of $1.06 billion.
The Amelia project is also in the St. Mary Levee District’s master plan. But officials have no source of funding for it, so it’s “pretty far down the road,” Matte said.
The draft of the 2017 master plan may be viewed at http://coastal.la.gov/a-common-vision/2017-draft-coastal-master-plan/.
Four public meetings will be held to discuss the master plan with the closest one taking place Jan. 24 at Houma Terrebonne Civic Center. The public hearing will include an open house at 3:30 p.m., followed by a presentation and public comment session from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
The public may submit comments on the master plan through March 26. Comments may be submitted online at https://cpra.citizenreach.com/masterplan, by sending an email to masterplan@la.gov or sending comments in writing to CPRA, PO Box 44027, Baton Rouge, LA 70804.
Officials will submit the final plan to the Legislature in April.