{"id":22838,"date":"2024-11-27T16:41:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T16:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/?p=802910"},"modified":"2024-11-27T16:41:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T16:41:29","slug":"louisiana-gov-landry-raises-concerns-over-3b-coastal-restoration-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2024\/11\/27\/louisiana-gov-landry-raises-concerns-over-3b-coastal-restoration-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Louisiana Gov. Landry Raises Concerns Over $3B Coastal Restoration Project"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/img\/social\/opengraph\/ij-social-default-1200x630.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<ul class=\"nav nav-tabs tabs tabs-entry\">\n<li class=\"active\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/southcentral\/2024\/11\/27\/802910.htm\">Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/southcentral\/2024\/11\/27\/802910.htm?comments\" rel=\"nofollow\">0 Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"article-content clearfix\">\n<p>NEW ORLEANS (AP) \u2014 Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry raised serious objections Thursday to a <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/louisiana-coastal-restoration-mississippi-river-diversion-03a7d3458e870858fb0e961482bcedfe\">$3 billion project<\/a> long hailed as key to restoring the state\u2019s eroding coastline, decrying the growing cost and predicting dire harm to a coastal culture dependent on fishing, shrimping and oyster dredging.<\/p>\n<p>The Republican governor\u2019s remarks to a Senate committee in Baton Rouge were his most extensive \u2014 and most decisively negative \u2014 on the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project since he took office in January. They come a month after <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/louisiana-coastal-restoration-project-sediment-diversion-291c10189782f86f39237cdfcef55273\">federal authorities warned<\/a> that money for the project channeled to the state by the federal government would have to be returned if the state could not provide a clear commitment to the plan.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"79\" data-revive-topics=\"coastal,funding\" data-revive-companies data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>Landry stopped short of calling for an end to the project altogether but said a compromise must be reached with opponents of the project. The chair of the Senate Committee, Republican Sen. Pat Connick, said lawmakers would have to weigh the next move.<\/p>\n<p>The project would channel 75,000 cubic feet (2,100 cubic meters) of sediment per second from the Mississippi River into the nearby Barataria Basin in southeast Louisiana\u2019s Plaquemines Parish to create between <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/louisiana-coastal-restoration-mississippi-river-diversion-03a7d3458e870858fb0e961482bcedfe\">20 to 40 square miles<\/a> (52 to 104 square kilometers) of new land over five decades.<\/p>\n<p>It has drawn opposition from some in Plaquemines Parish and now Landry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis project is going to break our culture,\u201d Landry said, likening the projected damage to shrimp and oyster harvesters to the diminishing of the Cajun French language generations ago when southwest Louisiana school children were forced to speak nothing but English.<\/p>\n<p>Ground was broken on the project in August 2023, but state and federal litigation by various interests has stalled it. Landry\u2019s remarks added to doubts about its future, despite support from environmental groups.<\/p>\n<p>Supporters of the project, which is being funded from a settlement arising from BP\u2019s 2010 <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/environment-tx-state-wire-fl-state-wire-louisiana-virus-outbreak-8181adee796a45706cb4be265ca1e0d1\">Deepwater Horizon oil spill<\/a> in the Gulf of Mexico, quickly pushed back during and after Landry\u2019s committee testimony.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext-2\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"162\" data-revive-topics=\"coastal,funding\" data-revive-companies data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>\u201cI really think, again, the proper course of action is to remain and build as properly permitted as already funded with BP oil spill dollars \u2026 Every day that we wait and delay we\u2019re costing the state more money,\u201d Rep. Joseph Orgeron, a Republican from Cut Off, told Landry.<\/p>\n<p>While Landry called the project experimental, Orgeron said other, smaller diversion projects have worked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we continue to lose wetlands to open water, that\u2019s just less and less breeding grounds, less and less protection for all of our juvenile shrimp, crab, finfish, you name it,\u201d Corey Miller, community engagement director with the nonprofit Pontchartrain Conservancy, said in an interview. \u201cWe have to figure out a way to reestablish that connection between the river and our estuaries in order to rebuild deltas to protect all of our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The project was planned in response to a <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/storms-louisiana-gulf-of-mexico-hurricanes-mississippi-river-0447fcb24ca5db3e4b77745578360a01\">rapidly vanishing coastline<\/a> caused by a variety of natural and man-made factors. Those include land subsidence, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/science-louisiana-gulf-of-mexico-birds-mangroves-5eeaf3bd668b4fedc26b696164ea0cad\">sea-level rise<\/a>, the cutting of canals through coastal wetlands by oil and gas companies, and the artificial control of the Mississippi River via levee systems that protect populations from floods but also prevent the natural flow of water that would ordinarily deposit sediment and rebuild land.<\/p>\n<p>The conservation group Restore the Mississippi River Delta said Landry\u2019s remarks represent a \u201cdramatic shift\u201d in coastal restoration efforts: \u201cNot building this project as designed, permitted and funded will put citizens and businesses at increased risk from future storms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Landry said delays have pushed the Mid-Barataria project cost over the years from around $1.5 billion to more than $3 billion, and he predicted costs above $2.9 billion will have to be passed on to Louisiana taxpayers.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Associated Press reporter Jack Brook in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this story.<\/p>\n<div class=\"copyright-notice lite\">Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/div>\n<p class=\"tagtag\"> <span class=\"tagtag\">Topics<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/location\/louisiana\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Louisiana<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll\" data-post=\"802910\">\n<div class=\"article-poll-vote\">\n<p>Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-no\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article.<\/p>\n<p> <textarea placeholder=\"Enter your feedback...\"><\/textarea> <button type=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" disabled>Submit<\/button> <button class=\"cancel\">No Thanks<\/button> <\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-yes\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! <span class=\"percent\"><\/span>% of people found this article valuable. 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Jeff Landry raised serious objections Thursday to a $3 billion project long hailed as key to restoring the state\u2019s eroding coastline, decrying the growing cost&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[1165,1166,1167,1,77],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/louisiana-gov-landry-raises-concerns-over-3b-coastal-restoration-project.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22838"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}