Among the three appropriations bills the Senate is expected to take up this week is one that includes more than $350 million in earmarks for 51 projects in Louisiana. One of those projects would dedicate more than $137 million towards construction and maintenance for flood control work in the Atchafalaya River basin. Senator Bill Cassidy says preventing high water in the Atchafalaya River basin is critical.
“You can actually get backflow back through, I think, Bayou Bluff and Bayou Black, that goes back up and floods communities further inland. And some of these gates being installed are those gates to prevent that backwater flow,” Cassidy explained.
Cassidy says the money for these projects would actually be less than the money spent last year.
“We’re still able to dedicate resources to things like Morganza to the Gulf, which help prevent flooding, devastation of people’s lives, and a greater expenditure on behalf of the federal government as we attempt to help communities recover,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy says the project is part of the greater infrastructure project to protect the coastal parishes of St. Mary, Terrebonne and Lafourche.
“This is all part of that system. And the Atchafalaya is obviously a key element of how you control that water,” Cassidy noted.