Thursday, November 8, 2007 was a big day for the funding of water projects in Louisiana. While money, alone, won’t fix our problems, it will take major funding to start to undo the damage of more than a century of self-centered mis-management of our natural resources.

The big stories on Thursday were the Senate’s override of the President’s veto of the first Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) in the seven years of the Bush2 Administration, the passage of additional funding for the Road Home Program, and the passage of the annual defense funding bill. All of these measures will send money to Louisiana in one form or other, but the WRDA 2007 funding could have the biggest impact on the Basin. I say “could” because WRDA is an “authorization” act, not a funding one. Congress will have to follow through in years to come by allocating dollars to complete the projects spelled out in this year’s bill.

The Act also directs the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) policy and authorizes Corps activities in many areas, including the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System (ABFS). The ABFS project is the funding source for the largest slice of Corps funding around the Basin.

The WRDA bill contains dozens of items pertaining to Louisiana. If you want to read them all, the final version of the bill is available at the Library of Congress site:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c110query.html
Search for H.R. 1495 in the 110th Congress and look for the “Enrolled” version, sent to the President:
Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)[H.R.1495.ENR]
You can then click on “Printer Friendly Display” and search for “Atchafalaya”.

The biggest items are $1.9 billion for coastal restoration projects, more than $160 million for the closure of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, $886 million for the construction of the Morganza-to-the-Gulf storm protection system, and $187 million for modifications to the Amite River and tributaries.

An East Atchafalaya and Amite River Basin area was defined, including parishes east and west of the Mississippi River and authorized $40 million for environmental restoration projects.

The Corps was authorized to buy up to 20,000 more acres in the ABFS from willing sellers and was directed to study, design and construct a type A regional visitors center in the vicinity of Morgan City, Louisiana, at 100% Federal cost.

In the Louisiana Coastal Area section of the Act, the Atchafalaya Basin is included in the definition of the “coastal Louisiana ecosystem” for the purposes of authorizing activities. The Corps is directed to “study of the maximum effective use of the water and sediment of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers for coastal restoration purposes consistent with flood control and navigation” and to submit a feasibility report on a project to “Convey Atchafalaya River Water to Northern Terrebonne Marshes at a total cost of $221,200,000.”

So there is much to watch and comment on as the projects start to take shape in the coming years.

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