Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has announced his plans to designate more than $350 million in coastal dollars, including $55 million from FY18 surplus dollars to Louisiana’s coastal trust fund.
Within those surplus dollars, $15 million will be allocated to effectively restore the funds previously swept by the previous Administration.
Edwards also committed $30 million in surplus to be used to meet the state’s lands-related obligation, allowing the $760 million West Shore Lake Pontchartrain hurricane protection project to move forward.
The remaining $10 million will go to increase the footprint of restoration projects already underway.
“I made a commitment, that under my watch, coastal dollars would be used for coastal projects. Given the opportunity to return funding that never should have been taken is one wrong I am happy to right ,” Edwards said. “ The Coastal Trust Fund is one of the few allowable recipients of surplus dollars – and for good reason. The trust fund allows us to leverage the additional $30 million in surplus funds we’re investing today to unlock $760 million in federal funding to provide flood protection benefits for tens of thousands of our people.”
“The West Shore Lake Pontchartrain project study was first authorized in 1971, and the hard working people of this region have been waiting to see progress ever since. When the federal government recently made the full cost to construct the project available to the Corps, we were determined to meet the State’s obligations on the lands side as quickly as possible in order to keep this project on schedule, so we can help better protect the people of this region ,” added Chip Kline, the governor’s executive assistant for coastal activities .
GOMESA projects FY20, FY21, FY22: