The future of the proposed $2.9 billion Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project remained cloudy Friday after the head of the state's coastal agency refused to say what its plans are for changing the project, citing a confidentiality agreement its officials have signed involving discussions with Plaquemines Parish.
But Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Chairman Gordon "Gordy" Dove, appointed to head the agency by Gov. Jeff Landry, told the Senate Transportation Committee that he doesn’t think the decision to move forward with construction remains in the state’s hands.
When asked by Committee Chairman Pat Connick whether CPRA wants the diversion to move forward, Dove said, “I think it's up to Plaquemines. I don’t think it's up to CPRA. Plaquemines has the ball right now and one thing it’s got to do is go to court.”
Dove was referring to a pending lawsuit by the parish against CPRA that seeks to block construction of the project based on its initial failure to obtain a parish construction permit. Limited work is being done on the diversion site after Plaquemines agreed to an initial permit while negotiations with the state continue. State officials have not asked a Plaquemines Parish judge to rule on whether the state has the authority to move forward with the project without the final parish permit.
Dove's comments followed a lengthy discussion about whether the state would be required to repay the $519 million already spent on engineering, design and initial construction work.
Charles Sutcliffe with the National Wildlife Federation Action Fund, Lauren Bourg with the National Audubon Society, and Cynthia Duet, with the Pontchartrain Conservancy, testify in favor of building the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion before the Louisiana Senate Transportation Committee on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024.
Representatives of several national and local environmental organizations, including the Pontchartrain Conservancy, National Wildlife Federation, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and National Audubon Society, warned that the money spent on the project came from federal-state and non-governmental agencies that control the spending of billions of dollars in fines from the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, and that they’re likely to demand repayment if the project is not completed.
That’s because that money must be used for projects that meet the goals of restoring features damaged by the oil spill. The proposed diversion would create about 20 square miles of wetlands over 50 years and was were seen as a benefit to wildlife damaged by the spill.
Those organizations warned that the state's abandonment of the project after 18 years of scientific study, design work and fundraising would set a bad precedent for future projects. They also said the state could see damage lawsuits filed against it by the contractors hired to build the project.
Dove said he doesn’t believe the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group, which has awarded much of the funds needed to actually build the diversion, will require the state to pay back the money.
How funds for the Mid-Barataria diversion have been spent so far.
However, it’s unclear whether that trustee group, made up of federal and state agencies, will have the last word on repayment.
Dove said he met with the larger trustees group recently and plans to meet with the Louisiana trustee group next week. But he refused to say what he planned to tell them about how the state would modify the project, citing the confidentiality agreement it signed with Plaquemines Parish.
Neither trustee group was available for comment Monday.
Much of Dove’s testimony on Friday seemed aimed at defending whatever size reductions the state plans to propose to the Louisiana trustee group next week.
Dove focused on concerns repeatedly raised by Plaquemines officials and fishers about the effects of freshwater from the Mississippi River entering the Barataria Basin when the diversion is operating.
This graphic explains where funding for construction of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion comes from.
Permits were issued for the state’s diversion project, submitted during the term of former Gov. John Bel Edwards, by the Army Corps of Engineers last year, following completion of a three-year environmental impact statement. That document outlined a variety of concerns about the diversion, including that freshwater likely would affect the ability of juvenile brown shrimp to grow in the rapidly disappearing wetlands of the basin.
The report also confirmed that nearly all of the more than 2,000 bottlenose dolphins that call the basin home will be killed, and that the water where oysters are grown will become too fresh to do so.
The report also outlines areas outside the Plaquemines Parish hurricane levee system that will see water levels elevated by as much as 1.5 feet when the diversion is open.
The diversion project has set aside nearly $380 million to address those issues and actually has already spent $9 million on efforts to elevate homes or buy out properties outside the levees, and for efforts to help fishers and oyster growers.
This graphic from the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion environmental impact statement breaks down the different features of the proposed diversion.
The benefits of the diversion cited by the environmental statement include reductions in water levels along West Bank hurricane levees during hurricanes, and the creation of 20 square miles of new land in the basin over 50 years. The report also pointed out that sediment from the diversion would extend the life of a variety of nearby marsh reconstruction projects, including those already built and those planned for construction.
The statement concluded the benefits outweigh the problems, and it points out that the basin's fisheries will likely be disrupted because of sea level rise and other climate change effects, with or without its construction.
In his remarks, Dove focused on the state’s plans to continue building marsh restoration projects, where sediment mined from the Mississippi River or from within the basin is moved by pipeline to open water locations to build new wetlands or land bridges. Speakers from environmental groups pointed out that without the sediment from the diversion, those projects' lifetimes would be limited.
He also questioned the decision by CPRA officials during Edwards’ administration to begin construction of the diversion before 100% of its design plans were complete. He said contractors already have requested to add $70 million to the project’s $2.92 billion cost to pay for changes resulting from the design’s completion.
During his presentation, Dove also questioned why the diversion was designed for 75,000 cfs, pointing out that when he served on the board while in the state Legislature, he voted for the 2012 coastal master plan that called for the project to be only 50,000 cfs.
But that document actually said that while it was being included in that year’s master plan at that smaller size, under less optimistic land loss conditions, it should be built to allow a much larger amount of water into the basin.
“To account for this uncertainty, the project is slated for expansion after 20 years to a 250,000 cfs sediment diversion,” that version of the plan says.
The Transportation Committee took no action on the diversion at its meeting.