House
overwhelmingly overrides President’s veto of WRDA
By an overwhelming vote of 361–54,
the U.S. House of Representatives voted to override the President’s veto
of the Water Resources and Development Act (WRDA), legislation that authorizes
billions of dollars for Louisiana flood control, hurricane protection,
coastal restoration, waterway improvements, and ecosystem rehabilitation
projects. On the local level, WRDA provides an authorization of $187 million
for flood control projects in East Baton Rouge Parish.
U.S. Rep. Richard
Baker, R-Baton Rouge, who serves as the ranking Republican member of the Water
Resources subcommittee and served as a lead House negotiator on the House-Senate
conference committee that authored WRDA, issued the following statement:
“This is a battle I
have waged for 7 years, and on behalf of the citizens of Louisiana I am
gratified to have finally won. Louisiana has faced incredible challenges
since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and today we are making the investments in
coastal restoration and hurricane protection that our state so urgently needs. I
commend my colleagues in the House for overriding this veto and urge the Senate
to schedule a veto override vote very quickly.”
On the authorization
of $187 million for flood control projects in East Baton
Rouge Between raising the
authorization level and changing the cost-share formula, we’re talking about a
substantial increased federal investment and savings to the parish of $40
million for projects that mean greater safety for people and property.”
The bill also
includes language authored by Baker to allow the Corps, for the first time, to
participate with other agencies to assess and seek solutions for the “hypoxia”
problem or the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico impacting Louisiana fishing, which
recent reports indicate is growing worse. The provision would bring the Corps’
unique expertise in wetlands, specifically nutrient filters that mitigate
against hypoxia, and waterways that deliver the nutrients, to bear on a unified
plan to deal with hypoxia.
Louisiana and Sixth District area projects in
the WRDA bill include:
St.
Francisville Drainage: Authorizes the Corps to initiate
improvements for flood-prone areas of the town.
False
River: Expedites Corps work to address the
siltation problem harming this vital Pointe Coupee Parish
lake.
Intracoastal
Waterway Stream Bank
Restoration: Directs the Corps to address severe erosion problems Gulf
Intracoastal Waterway near the Bayou Sorrel Lock
in Louisiana Coastal
Area:Authorizes $1.9 billion for
Louisiana’s coast, which represents the largest coastal restoration project in American
history.
Morganza
to Gulf: Authorizes the $886.7 million project for the area
between the Atchafalaya and Mssissippi Rivers from the Morganza Floodway in
Pointe Coupee Parish to the Gulf Coast and including the watershed area that makes up most of Acadiana.
This project authorizes the Corps to conduct extensive flood and hurricane
protection; wetlands, natural resource, wildlife habitat, and ecosystem
conservation; and will facilitate recreational, commercial, and outdoor
activities.
East
Baton Rouge: Expands a 1998
authorization for the Corps’ riverfront work in West Baton Rouge Parish now to
include East Baton Rouge Parish and West Feliciana Parish.
University/City
Park Lakes: Authorizes the Corps
to expedite this dredging and ecosystem restoration project.:
East
Baton Rouge Parish Flood
Control: Authorizes a new, higher level of
$187 million for this important flood control project. The bill language also
changes the federal cost share from 65/35 to 75/25. The higher authorization,
combined with the cost-share change, will provide a $40 million increase in
federal investment and savings to the parish.
Bayou
Sorrel Lock: Authorizes the Corps to
reconstruct the $100 million lock in Iberville Parish, a
critical choke point for the Gulf Intracoastal
Waterway
Bayou
Plaquemine: Saves the city of Plaquemine $400,000 toward a $2 million project that provides environmental
enhancement of Bayou Plaquemine by increasing the level of dissolved oxygen and
lowering the temperature of bayou waters, which are currently experiencing
habitat degradation.
Watershed
Management programs: Provides
technical, planning, and design assistance to non-federal interests for carrying
out watershed management, restoration, and development projects at the Amite
River Basin and East Atchafalaya River.
Flood
mitigation priority areas: Provides technical, planning, and design assistance to non-federal interests for
carrying out flood mitigation, restoration, and development projects in
Ascension, EBR, Iberville, Livingston, and Pointe Coupee parishes. The Corps is
authorized to conduct projects that reduce flooding while trying to restore
rivers to their natural condition.
EBR, Livingston and Ascension parish
wastewater: Increases
authorized funding level from $20 million to $35 million.
Plaquemine
sanitary, sewer and wastewater infrastructure
improvements: Authorizes funding
level of $7 million.
Hypoxia:
Authorizes the Corps
to begin working with federal, state, and other agencies to address the hypoxia
situation in the Gullf of Mexico.
For more news about
Congressman Baker, please visit www.baker.house.gov
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