Levee plan questioned

• By AMY WOLD
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Aug 31, 2009 - Page: 1A

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Frustration and less-than-kind words were expressed at two state coastal restoration and protection meetings recently because of a letter sent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that raised questions about construction-related permits for at least two portions of a long-awaited, massive levee system in Terrebonne Parish.

The letter, dated Aug. 13 and signed by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, outlined concerns the environmental groups have voiced for several years about the entire Morganza to the Gulf project, which would cover lower parts of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.

The meetings where the concerns about the letter were aired were the Coastal Protection Restoration Authority meeting on Aug. 19 and the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Coastal Protection, Restoration and Conservation meeting on Aug. 20.

Supporters of the levee system, including the Morganza Action Coalition and the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District, took the letter as a direct attack on their ability to protect themselves against hurricanes and said it could result in a delay of the project. The environmental groups said such protection is absolutely necessary but may not be feasible with the expansive system being planned.

The concerns include the impact on marsh hydrology if it is enclosed in a large levee system; the effects of individual sections of the protection system not being considered in the cumulative effect of the system; and the large levee system possibly negating efforts on other protection, such as elevation of houses and structures.

A look at some of the comments the corps received about the two permits shows that the environmental groups aren’t alone in their concerns about the Morganza to the Gulf project. Similar concerns were presented from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The federal agencies’ concerns include making sure that the projects are considered as part of the whole Morganza to the Gulf system and that permit decisions include information from the corps’ hydraulic modeling of the area.

However, it could be January 2010 before results from that modeling are available, said Elaine Stark, corps project manager for the Morganza to the Gulf project.

The computer models are looking at the possible system-wide impacts to the movement of water through the system; however, water exchange in many areas is already restricted, she said.

“The authorized alignment is 80 percent overlaying something that already blocks the water flow,” Stark said. Roads, previous levees and natural ridges prevent the water and tidal exchange that are of concern to many groups. The other areas are where gates are being planned, she said.

Supporters of the large hurricane protection system say the questions brought up in the comments, such as ones about environmental impacts, have been addressed during the decades the system has been in the planning process and expressed frustration about what they view as opposition.

Reggie Dupre, the executive director of the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District, said a proposed new Environmental Impact Statement or EIS would take at least 42 months to even start because it would have to wait until the end of the corps’ project review.

The review of the project by the corps won’t be complete until December 2012, Dupre said.
That means two normal cycles of the Water Resources Development Act, the mechanism to get the project authorized again under a new estimated project cost, will have occurred, he said.