Dive Brief:
- Federal authorities have warned that they expect Louisiana to return funds allocated for the $3 billion Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project if the state is no longer committed to the flagship coastal restoration effort, according to AP News.
- Louisiana’s coastline in Plaquemines Parish is eroding rapidly and sinking due to hydrologic alteration, saltwater intrusion and sea-level rise driven by climate change, according to the project website. The project broke ground in August 2023 but has since been stalled by lawsuits.
- In an Oct. 18 letter to the head of Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, the agency overseeing the project, federal officials asked if the state is committed to the megaproject and requested a “clear statement” that it plans to follow through with it as designed, per AP News.
Dive Insight:
Louisiana’s coast and the Mississippi river delta are eroding rapidly: A football field of wetlands vanishes into open water every 100 minutes, according to nonprofit Restore the Mississippi River Delta, and Louisiana has lost an area roughly the size of Delaware since the 1930s.
The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion is Louisiana’s biggest effort to address its worsening land loss problem. It would funnel Mississippi River freshwater and sediment into the Barataria Basin to rebuild wetlands and maintain coastline, according to the project website, with the goal of building up to 30,000 acres of wetlands within 50 years and restoring coastal ecosystems.
However, the project has faced pushback from some state lawmakers and members of the seafood industry.
Plaquemines Parish authorities sued the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority in November 2023 just months after the project broke ground, alleging a flawed permitting process and saying it could increase flood risk to local communities, according to NOLA.com.
Then in January, local oyster companies and the Earth Island Institute environmental group filed suit against the project’s permitting agencies: the Army Corps of Engineers, National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. They say that the project will alter water quality, threaten commercial fisheries and harm marine life such as bottlenose dolphins, NOLA.com reported.
Representatives from the EPA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture — all overseeing federal funds obtained in a settlement following the 2010 BP oil spill — signed the letter to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. They said the returned funds would be used for future restoration activities but did not specify if they would remain earmarked for projects in Louisiana. The state has already spent more than $500 million on the diversion project, according to NOLA.com.
Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration has declined to comment publicly on the matter, per NOLA.com, citing Plaquemines Parish’s ongoing lawsuit against the state. Landry’s office did not immediately respond to Construction Dive’s request for comment.