NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The federal government is reallocating $1.25 million to revise plans for a proposed south Louisiana hurricane protection project, two Republican congressmen from Louisiana said Thursday.
The revision will reflect construction in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes by local and state agencies and will also allow updated and more efficient designs, said a news release from U.S. House Republican Whip Steve Scalise and Rep. Garrett Graves.
That should change the current estimated cost of the Morganza-to-the-Gulf project "from an unaffordable $14 billion to more realistic figures," their statement said.
Graves said, "Since 1992, the Corps of Engineers has spent $80 million studying this project without putting a shovel in the ground."
"The Corps has agreed to recognize the excessive cost of the 'old project' as well as the incredible progress that the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District and the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority have made in building the Morganza-to-the-Gulf Hurricane Protection project," Graves continued. "These new funds will allow for updated, more efficient designs that put us much closer to getting even more federal funding for hurricane and flood protection in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes."
Scalise called the reallocation "a major step in the right direction to provide flood protection for thousands of families and businesses in southeast Louisiana."
