Louisiana Governor OKs bayou water quality project
BATON ROUGE, LA, April 11, 2007 -- Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has approved a $4 million water quality project with funding through the new Coastal Impact Assistance Program. The Coastal Impact Assistance Program, CIAP, is a federal program authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to assist coastal producing states in mitigating the impacts from Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas production. Louisiana is one of the seven coastal states selected to receive funds to implement this program.
"We have made great progress in improving water quality across Louisiana," the governor said, announcing $4 million worth of new funding for the Beau Bayou project.
The CIAP program will provide $540 million of Outer Continental Shelf mineral revenues to Louisiana over four years. Thirty-five percent, or $189 million, is dedicated to coastal parishes.
CIAP funds can only be used for conservation, restoration and protection of coastal areas, including wetlands, and mitigation of damage to fish, wildlife and natural resources.
Improving water quality is a key objective for Governor Blanco, who set water quality goals for the state through the Clean Waters Program.
Currently, 310 water bodies in the state are considered polluted for fish and wildlife and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is working to make 77 of them clean enough to support healthy fish and wildlife populations.
The Beau Bayou is part of the Atchafalaya Basin, an area of hardwood forests, cypress stands, marshes and bayous on the southwestern shore of the Mississippi River Delta.
The Beau Bayou project was initially contemplated as an Atchafalaya Basin Program project. Preliminary design work on the project was completed with Atchafalaya Basin funds in 2004. The Beau Bayou project will now be funded with federal revenues through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program allotted to St. Martin Parish.
A detailed study of the area will be performed and plans and specifications will be prepared for dredging to eliminate poor water conditions in the area. Once the plans are completed, the project can move forward to construction. The estimated cost of this project will be $4 million funded at full federal expense pending final approval of the Coastal Impact Assistance Program due by 2008.
In 2005, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, announced its intention to prepare a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, DSEIS, to evaluate water management features for the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project, including the Beau Bayou project.
Dependent on funding, the Corps said the earliest that the DSEIS is expected to be available is in the fall of 2012.
Also see:
-- "Governor Blanco approves water quality/water access projects"
-- Louisiana Office of Coastal Restoration and Management