On July 17, Louisiana officially canceled the $ 3 billion $ 3 billion sediment diversion project, overflowing a central piece of its coastal restriction strategy to reconnect the Mississippi River in the Barataria basin.
The State Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), which acted as a trustee, determined that the effort was no longer viable in the midst of increasing expenses, allowing suspensions and litigation, according to a statement from the agency.
These obstacles pushed the Louisiana trustees implementation group to sign a resolution that reduces the authorized budget of the project from $ 2.26 billion to $ 618.52 million, the amount already paid – before starting formal completion activities. The agency stated that unused funds would be redistributed through the process of planning the restoration of deep water.
The impulse was stopped on April 26 when the United States Army (USACE) Corps of Engineers suspended its 404 section of the clean water law, allowing “to wait for more review,” according to the body. The suspension letter cited concerns about local fishing, sediment toxicity and flood risk impacts. Louisiana governor Jeff Landry amplified these concerns, came to social media that day, and blamed his predecessor, John Bel Edwards, alleging embezzlement when obtaining permission.
“This project is like a novel by John Grisham, a brief of real life,” wrote Landry. “They did not tell the public that the Mid Barataria project would have cost taxpayers more than $ 50 million a year in dredging, increased the hypoxia that destroys (sic) our fishing in our great Grand Island gem and would affect the drinking water of Jefferson, Plaqueso, Saint Bernard and Orleans Parishes.”
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Louisiana breaks $ 2.3 million ground to sediment deviation
The Mid-Barratania regime, approved in the Restoration Plan of Phase II of Phase II of 2023 of the CPRA 3.2-Lenga planned to divert up to 75,000 cubic feet of water from the Sediment River for a second to a complex of entrance to the Mississippi River Mile 60.7 near Ironon, plateemines Parish.
The body devised several plans ranging from 50,000 to 150,000 CFS with optional Marsh outputs, which would be restored by approximately 20 square miles (approximately 12,800 hectares) of marsh and wetlands over the next 50 years.
By virtue of the NEPA process, the body published a project of environmental impact declaration on March 5, 2021, held public meetings from April 6 to 8, 2021, and published its EIS Plan and final restoration on September 23, 2022. A record of decisions and federal permission followed on December 19, 2022, erasing the road for construction, which took place on August 10, 2023.
In January 2024, the resistance began to mount after Jurisich Oysters LLC, Ameripure Processing Inc. And the international marine mammal project filed a lawsuit to the federal court, claiming that the environmental review of the body violated Nepa and the endangered species law.
)[T]His project would have “severe, permanent and adverse impacts, including impacts on water quality, bottling dolphin populations, commercial fishing and human health,” the plaintiffs stated in a summary of the complaint.
A letter from the Army Corps to the President of the CPRA, Gordon Dove, of April 25, 2025, confirmed Landry’s claims. The Agency wrote that during the review of the permit, the Edward Administration retained essential information for regulators to evaluate environmental impacts. In addition, the body stated that the state did not ensure compliance with local flood insurance or guarantee that it had the funding for maintenance dredging.
CPRA announced that it will now redirect resources in the long planning of the Louisiana coastal area, average deviation Myrtle Grove with a dredging project. Although the specifications are being reviewed, Myrtle Grove is expected to have a minor deviation imprint, combined with target dredging, to improve the delivery of sediment at a lower cost.
Authorized under the 2007 Water Resource Development Law, with a significantly less than $ 278.3 million price, which is between CPRA and USACE, the project is close to Myrtle Grove on the west shore of the river and covers platemine, Jefferson and Lafourche parish.
The new plan
The average detour of Myrtle Grove will convey between 2,500 cfs and 15,000 cfs of water from the Mississippi river full of sediments through a compact entrance structure to River Mile 58.5, the routing of the flows through a 12 kilometer pipeline in the Barataria basin.
According to corps documents, the 90% design hydraulic modeling provides for the annual land construction rates of up to 200 hectares and long -term maintenance of approximately 33,880 hectares of reservoir over 50, complementing the existing wetlands fresh in Brack.
Engineers evaluated flow alternatives of up to 250,000 CFS; Higher capacity options were eliminated due to increasing costs, environmental impacts and a decrease in sediment retention efficiency.
The body plans to obtain permits of section 404 final of the USACE and the permits of section 401 of the EPA in mid -2016, with the construction of field planned to begin at the end of 2026 and the launch directed by 2029.
The control stations specified in the design will trace the lifting gains, the colonization of the vegetation and the water quality parameters. Monthly reports to the Louisiana trustees implementation group includes performance indicators such as restored acres, sediment deposition volumes and door operation records.
“After years of planning and navigating legal challenges and important permits, we have made the difficult decision to terminate the MID -Bararia project,” said Dove, president of the CPRA, in the announcement of the agency.
“Our commitment to coastal restoration has not been reduced. We are now focused on advancing the Myrtle Grove project, which we believe will provide similar benefits to rebuild and sustain our coast,” he added.
