(The Center Square) – At this week’s meeting of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority governing board, the agency announced $6 million in coastal projects paid for through Gulf of America oil and gas royalties.
The 11 projects are in Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Vermilion parishes, which will contribute more than $10 million in matching funds.
Vermilion Parish will receive nearly $1.27 million to extend construction of a rock breakwater on Vermilion Bay east of the Boston Canal.
State Route 1 in Lafourche Parish, a vital artery surrounded by wetlands and open water connecting Golden Meadow with Port Fourchon, will receive $1.11 million to construct 20,000 linear feet of earthen terraces to protect the roadway from wave action and also protect nearby levees.
Port Fourchon is a key port for the state’s oil and gas industry.
St. Tammany Parish received $2 million matching funds for two projects. The first is a $1 million habitat restoration project with a breakwater to protect the historic Tchefuncte River Lighthouse.
The second is a wetlands restoration project on Lake Pontchartrain in Mandeville that would create marshes, a rock berm and a weir designed to protect a cypress swamp, redirect stormwater runoff and increase the area’s ability to weather storms. It also received $1 million.
In Tangipahoa Parish, also in southeastern Louisiana, the parish commission will receive $850,000 to continue its hydrologic restoration of Lee’s Landing along the Powerline Canal, which is intended to improve drainage south of Ponchatoula and allow more hydrologic connectivity in the wetlands on the Manchac Landbridge.
This area separates Lake Maurepas from Lake Pontchartrain.
In Terrebonne Parish, officials received $775,000 for the second phase of the Raccourci Bay Terraces project, which will add 18,000 feet of earthen terraces to dispel wave energy and increase the amount of new wetlands.
Last year, the matching fund projects had a $7 million outlay from the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, better known as GOMESA. The involved parishes spent nearly $29.6 million, a nearly five to one match.
GOMESA was passed by Congress in 2006 and the program provides revenues from oil and gas leases with Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas for coastal conservation, restoration and hurricane protection projects.
Members of the coastal protection agency’s board also heard a briefing on options for the restoration of Racoon Island, a barrier island in southwest Louisiana.
Agency officials also said they have 108 active projects, with 39 under construction, 65 in the engineering and design phase and four in the planning phase.
The largest number of projects were hurricane protection ones, with 16 under construction, 17 in the design phase and two in the planning.
Among marsh creation projects, there were eight under construction and 27 in the design phase.
