Inside Report for February 29, 2008

• By RICHARD BURGESS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Feb 29, 2008 - Page: 9B

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Coastal restoration advocates in southwestern Louisiana have long perceived themselves as underdogs in the fight for funding.

Despite that feeling — which comes honestly considering where restoration dollars are being spent — the southwestern corner of the state has been relatively passive.

Officials there complained but have never mounted an organized push for more restoration dollars.

That seems to be changing.

In recent public meetings, folks in Vermilion, Calcasieu and Cameron parishes ripped the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority for a 2009 budget they say is weighted heavily toward the other side of the state.

The inequity is most obvious in line items for hurricane protection — $14 million for projects in the southeast and $1 million for projects in the southwest.

There are legitimate reasons for the disparity, one being that big piles of federal money for levee projects in the southeast will be lost if the state does not come up with more than $1 billion in matching funds.

The southeastern half of the state also has experienced more dramatic land loss and has more big projects that have been subjected to the time-consuming studies required to secure federal restoration and hurricane protection funds.

But southwestern Louisiana restoration advocates say some obvious inequities need to be addressed.

They also argue that land loss will be just as severe in the southwest if nothing is done soon, and they have begun to mount an offensive to get the ball rolling.

The Vermilion Parish Police Jury passed a resolution on Feb. 19 supporting efforts to unite with other southwestern Louisiana parishes for more funding.

Cameron Parish has drafted a similar resolution, and public officials and conservationists from across southwestern Louisiana gathered in Lafayette this month to air their grievances and discuss strategy.

Two issues emerged for immediate attention: securing more funding for southwestern Louisiana in this year’s proposed Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority spending plan and better representation on the authority board.